Keir Starmer

[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.

 

[cerro]

I have always said the UK is the most corrupt country in the world it’s so well hidden not like Russia or Africa ect which is out in the open for all to see

 

[Jacob]

Funny how Corbyn gets left out of these conversations!
In spite of the intensive brain-washing campaign against him, he still was the most popular Labour leader this century. We could have been 5 years into an honest Labour government.
This was the turnout;
2001 Blair 10.7 million
2005 Blair 9.5
2010 Brown 8.6
2015 miliband 9.3
2017 Corbyn 12.9
2019 Corbyn 10.3
2024 Starmer 9.7
How can this be?

 

[cerro]

When I lived in Scotland (25 years) we went to the hospital for hearing aids and I had four or five different ones over a three year period as they got better and better I was able to connect my phone via Bluetooth which was fantastic. Then we had to returned to Yorkshire for personal reasons and no hospital it was Novus Health owned by I don’t know who One cheap basic hearing aid take it or leave it no bluetooth you had to buy a devise £199 to use the phone from Novus Health of course Getting back to the post could a few MPs have got together and set up Novus Health like they did with corvic masks Just a thought

 

[Yorkieguy]

First, it was 'Passes for Glasses' - the latest stunt is 'Cash for Croissants'!

Quote:

Labour were engulfed in a 'cash for croissants' row after it emerged that the party was selling £30,000 tickets for breakfast with the Business Secretary. Business leaders were offered the 'rare chance to gain insights, network and exchange ideas' among peers and Jonathan Reynolds at an exclusive event at the Ivy restaurant in Manchester.

The Scottish National Party have demanded a probe into what they called the 'growing stench of sleaze' in Sir Kier’s government amid his party's freebie row. SNP Cabinet Office spokesman Brendan O'Hara said: 'People expect transparency and accountability — and that is why a full inquiry into the Labour government cash for access scandal is required.'

Labour's pitch — first reported by The Sun — offered bosses a photograph with Mr Reynolds at a cost of £15,000, or £30,000 for a 'dynamic meeting of business minds'. The invitation was circulated to businesses by Liam Didsbury, who until recently was the Labour's North-West director.

But party officials now say the breakfast is no longer going ahead.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband claimed Mr Reynolds was 'unaware' of the event, but warned his colleagues that 'paying to have access' was 'not what we are about'. 'Don't do it again, is my message,' he said. 'Jonathan Reynolds was completely unaware of this. It shouldn't have happened. It won't happen again. You know, I'm sure lessons will be learned.'

Mr Reynolds has accepted tickets from Google worth more than £3,000 for Glastonbury last year, when the party was in opposition. Shadow minister Andrew Griffiths warned: 'This is a clear offer to bend the Business Secretary's ear over government policy.' He added: 'There are proper channels through which businesses can engage with the government on policy matters, but this is something completely different and won't appear in any public record.

'Labour has been in office for less than 100 days but we can already add "cash for croissants" to "passes for glasses" in the growing list of scandals engulfing this government.'

End quote.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth...1&cvid=6706fd9947454898a5f1dbc33dc21717&ei=99

To draw an analogy: think of the goodwill and trust placed in Labour by the electorate at the general election as competent honourable people to lead the country, as rather like 'a tube of toothpaste'. Each time these revelations of, (at best), ineptitude arise, its like another squeeze of the tube. Once each blob of 'trust and goodwill' is squeezed out of the tube, it can't be put back in. It remains to be seen how many more squeezes are left in the tube. Best to screw the cap on the tube and conserve what's left in it.

A lesson that the Tories failed to learn to their cost.

This was supposed to be a much different 'brand' of whiter than white 'toothpaste'.