Keir Starmer

[Fergie 307]

It is the overtly partisan views that annoy me. Triton goes to town on Cleverly for accepting hospitality at Wimbledon, quite rightly so. The question as to what this could possibly have to do with his official duties is also a fair point, the answer being nothing whatsoever.
But what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. How did Starmer's attendance at a Taylor Swift concert have anything to do with his official duties?
So what's the difference?
There isn't any. In both cases high value gratuities offered purely on the basis of the positions people hold.
Have Wimbledon ever called you up offering you free tickets and a nice lunch? No, me neither, anymore than football organisations have offered me tickets, arguably the hottest in town at the time, to see Ms Swift strut her stuff.
Would these offers have been made to plain old Mr Cleverly or Mr Starmer?
The very fact that these things are targeted primarily at those in high positions in government has a distinct whiff of impropriety.
You clearly think so in the case of Mr Cleverly, so I just cannot fathom the logic that allows you to excuse similar behaviour on the part of Starmer.
They should all be condemned equally.
The only answer is a total ban.
If that means that her local MP has to politely decline Mrs Mighins perfectly innocent offer of a pot of her home made jam, then so be it.

 

[RonnieI]

It is the overtly partisan views that annoy me. Triton goes to town on Cleverly for accepting hospitality at Wimbledon, quite rightly so. The question as to what this could possibly have to do with his official duties is also a fair point, the answer being nothing whatsoever.
But what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. How did Starmer's attendance at a Taylor Swift concert have anything to do with his official duties?
So what's the difference?
There isn't any. In both cases high value gratuities offered purely on the basis of the positions people hold.
Have Wimbledon ever called you up offering you free tickets and a nice lunch? No, me neither, anymore than football organisations have offered me tickets, arguably the hottest in town at the time, to see Ms Swift strut her stuff.
Would these offers have been made to plain old Mr Cleverly or Mr Starmer?
The very fact that these things are targeted primarily at those in high positions in government has a distinct whiff of impropriety.
You clearly think so in the case of Mr Cleverly, so I just cannot fathom the logic that allows you to excuse similar behaviour on the part of Starmer.
They should all be condemned equally.
The only answer is a total ban.
If that means that her local MP has to politely decline Mrs Mighins perfectly innocent offer of a pot of her home made jam, then so be it.

Equally, second jobs should not be allowed. How an MP can deliver service for his/her constituents (their prime reason for existence) whilst holding down several other posts with various companies is beyond me.
Then, we've got the issue of employing multiple family members in 'constituency office' roles for large salaries. I think Neil Kinnock was the one who had that sewn up.
I think nowadays there are very few people who go into politics for purely altruistic reasons.

 

[niemeyjt]

I think nowadays there are very few people who go into politics for purely altruistic reasons.

As they say, people used to go into politics to do good - now they go in to do well.

 

[selectortone]

I used to frequent a US-based musicians forum of old guys my age. I'm a lifelong guitar player and sometime luthier and repairer. We discussed music from the 50s and 60s, guitars and amps etc., and over the 15 years or so I was on there regularly I made some really good friends, so much so that I attended a couple of gatherings over there.

There was a no politics rule but a couple of posters couldn't help themselves and after a few suspensions the moderators were persuaded to create a no-holds-barred off topic forum.

This was around the time that politics and society in general over there was becoming more and more polarised and within a couple of years that off-topic forum became a microcosm of the country with such acrimony and mean spirit that there was a massive exodus of the more left-leaning types. Crazy really, because anyone who has spent any time in the USA knows that politics as we know it is really either right of centre or a bit more right of centre there.

Nowadays that board is just a bunch of old Trump MAGA types shouting into a void. Really sad to see.

It worries me that this country is going the same way. I don't do social media but my partner does and some of the things she shows me on Facebook scare the cr*p out of me. Being shared by family and friends. And what the hell is happening to YouTube? It used to be a place where you went to watch funny cat videos, or stuff about motors and aeroplanes. Now it's full of the weirdest conspiracy theories.

I can understand the Daily Mail pushing all their right wing stuff, it sells papers, but where is all this deluge of divisive cr*p coming from on social media. In whose interests is a totally divided and demoralised country?

My partner said something the other day. We're walking her dog in the park, by Poole harbour on a lovely sunny morning. I'm my usual curmudgeonly, ennui-filled, grumpy-old-man self. She's smiling and saying "Morning!" to all the other dog walkers as we're walking round, like she does every morning. I remark on this and she says "Well, if you smile at someone they might be having a hard time and it might brighten their day. And if they then smile at someone, and so on, that smile might go all around the world."

If you got this far thanks for listening.