[Andy McDandy]

Didn't Sunak make some jibes about Starmer never getting out of central London while he was a proper Yorkshire twat or something?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Good point.

Labour would have had different tactics if Sajid Javid was the Prime Minister. Or Badenoch or Braverman, and to some extent, Cleverly, as well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

As James says, this is indeed quite a gift to Labour from the NAO.

Interviewer- Your sums don't add up.
Labour- Well we can make efficiency savings-
Interviewer- Pull the other one. Every government says that. Why should we believe you?
Labour- We're quoting the National Audit Office.

(I think the NAO have possibly overstepped the mark so close to an election. Then again the Debt Management Office head started muttering about debt recently, which is the same but helpful to the government. So I'll take this gift from the NAO).

[The Weeping Angel]

Anyone's thoughts on this?


https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/kei ... d-r8bs7afe

Sir Keir Starmer has said that a future Labour government would not recongise a state of Palestine preemptively or unilaterally – but rather it would make the move as part of the peace process involving a number of nations.

Starmer said there was “no risk” that the party would return to the policy it inherited under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, which was to recognise a Palestinian state on “day one” of a Labour government.

Speaking at JW3 on Sunday, Starmer told the JC that Labour was “committed to the two-state solution.” He said: “Recognition has to be part of a process, and an appropriate part of the process.”


Starmer said that the new position was the same one that Labour had held for years before Corbyn.

Starmer’s comments confirm recommendations made by the party’s policy forum in October 2023 and passed by Labour’s National Executive Committee. The policy stated that they would “work alongside international partners to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as part of efforts to contribute to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”

[Abernathy]

A sensible move. The average Brit couldn’t care less about Palestine and can’t understand why so many on the hard-left can’t stop banging on about it.

[davidjay]

A sensible move. The average Brit couldn’t care less about Palestine and can’t understand why so many on the hard-left can’t stop banging on about it.

Absofuckinglutely. Everything with that lot always comes back to Palestine. It cost us votes in 2019 and it'll cost this year if we're not careful.

[Youngian]

Mandelson on Times Radio* was explaining how Labour losing the Hartlepool by-election was a ground zero shock for Starmer and discovered the party was impeded by ‘long Corbyn.’ It was only by kicking his arse very publicly that the party had a chance of getting back into the game.

* Worth dipping into, the presenters are mainly proper journalists or established politics-light radio voices. Mandelson was a guest of Matt Chorley along with Danny Finkelstein, a Tory who’s not fucking insane or a dense hack.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Think 2021 was peak Bozo, more than Long Corbyn. As far as Hartlepool was concerned, he’d got Brexit and the vaccine done.

[kreuzberger]

Don't forget the food banks. Bozo was roundly praised for presiding over the introduction of three, whereas they had only had one in the past.

[Andy McDandy]

You do get the impression that when they hanged the monkey, they basically killed off the town's brains trust.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Don't know if this chap's typical. In fairness,, when he says "the hospital" he may be thinking of some pre-2010 closures. But otherwise...

[kreuzberger]

They are as thick as fucking mince and anyone with a grain of sense gets out of there at the first opportunity.

(The rest remain and hope to be featured in an Octoputh Energy radio commercial.)

[davidjay]

It's not just them. I heard someone the other night arguing that it was Labour who stopped school milk "and you can fukkin Google it. I only talk facts" while telling the world how wonderful Thatcher was.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lots of this rubbish comes from Facebook. I hope Labour are ready for that this time. I didn't get the impression they were last time. Maybe they were "waiting for the campaign" when the BBC would be forced to be fairer, and everyone would suddenly get the issues...

[Andy McDandy]

It's not just them. I heard someone the other night arguing that it was Labour who stopped school milk "and you can fukkin Google it. I only talk facts" while telling the world how wonderful Thatcher was.

Last election, I saw a woman being interviewed, who said "I remember the 70s, the winter of discontent". She was clearly younger than me (born 1977, earliest memory 1980).

[Spoonman]

It's not just them. I heard someone the other night arguing that it was Labour who stopped school milk "and you can fukkin Google it. I only talk facts" while telling the world how wonderful Thatcher was.

People like that is what I used to refer as "Jeremy Kyle fodder".

(Not defending Kyle here, the cunt, only pointing out where he regularly got his guests from).

[Malcolm Armsteen]

See also BBC and Sky News vox pops.

[Andy McDandy]

In part because it's about the sneer factor. Aren't people wonderful (and a bit thick)?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And creative editing.

[kreuzberger]

See also BBC and Sky News vox pops.

See also Chris Mason's body language in that clip. He was egging them on and giving clear gestures of approval - "good telly" was his only driving force.

I grew up with people like this, so I have some empathy with them, if not sympathy. I do get that, but they are being played for clicks and ratings.