[Youngian]

I thought Mandelson resigned the second time because he phoned up Mike O'Brien about the Hinduja's passport, and the first time for not declaring a (very soft) loan on a mortgage application.

Saying that's the same failing as sharing confidential government information with Epstein and encouraging JP Morgan to lobby against the government, is really quite the stretch. Not just similar, "exactly" the same apparently.

Neither has Mandelson been accused of sex crimes but is an obsequitious loose lipped mug who's a danger to national security. Its not Andrew that comparisons should be made but Boris Johnson and the Lebedevs.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The UK has certainly been one of the ones moving fast on Defence. France was rumored to have been chief pissabouter on the negotiations.

See how its homegrown videoconferencing software works. Is it up to the job or is like using the Dailymotion instead of Youtube?

[kreuzberger]

France was rumored to have been chief pissabouter on the negotiations.

That pissaboutery was the Frogs throwing fish on to the dead cat table, to mix a meta-seven, many moons ago.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Labour MPs say Starmer’s days as PM are numbered amid fury over Mandelson
MPs say release of papers on Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador could trigger leadership challenge

Shortly to be followed by tumbling pound and spiking debt costs, most probably.

This is ridiculous. None of these MPs seriously think that Starmer knew any of this stuff. The appointment of Mandelson is exactly as bad as it was a few days ago.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I may have been harsh on Rayner. Perhaps she does want Starmer to survive, and felt that her suggestion was the only way to ensure that.

[Youngian]

Any country can clone video conferencing software but harsh post-war experience points to joint venutres being the norm for medium sized countries competing with superpowers. France would be foolish to retreat to economic nationalism in new tech.
More of this instead.

Joint project with Eutelsat promoted by French president during G7 summit

A company largely owned by the French and U.K. governments is pitching Canada on a roughly $250-million plan to provide the military with secure satellite broadband coverage in the Arctic, CBC News has learned.

Eutelsat, a rival to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink, already provides some services to the Canadian military, but wants to deepen the partnership as Canada looks to diversify defence contracts away from suppliers in the United States.
https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic ... perations/

[The Weeping Angel]

Ben here sums up a lot of how I'm thinking.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Child poverty reduction? Funny, I read today that the Government wasn't doing anything worth voting for, and was just "threatening" people they had to vote for them to stop Reform winning.

When rightwing Labour MPs were dismissive of Corbyn it was because they genuinely thought he had cranky views on the economy, foreign policy etc. The reaction of the liberal left to Starmer seems less (to use their own word) principled, and more personal.

[Boiler]

Not that it matters, but it seems Starmer's lost James O'Brien.

[The Weeping Angel]

I thought Mandelson resigned the second time because he phoned up Mike O'Brien about the Hinduja's passport, and the first time for not declaring a (very soft) loan on a mortgage application.

Saying that's the same failing as sharing confidential government information with Epstein and encouraging JP Morgan to lobby against the government, is really quite the stretch. Not just similar, "exactly" the same apparently.

I reckon a lot of the heat from journalists on Bluesky is because Mandelson told the FT to fuck off.

[mattomac]

I think it’s more due to the fact they don’t generally get exclusives

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is a decent explainer, in fairness.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -explainer

With this odd bit.

No 10 said on Wednesday that it had faith in the vetting process. It is understood that officials did not ask the US Department of Justice to see the Epstein documents before Mandelson’s appointment, and repeatedly dodged questions on whether a request was made to view documents related to Mandelson before they were published.

Hadn't the Epstein Files been sealed by a court? And how was Starmer to know that the Epstein files would contain this information anyway?

The idea that the Government shouldn't have got to see a load of documents before they were released seems like a new test that's only applied to Labour governments. Not a right to veto or anything like that, they're saying the Government aren't allowed to even see the documents any sooner than the public?

Still a shitty appointment that lots of us called at the time, mind,

[Tubby Isaacs]

I think it’s more due to the fact they don’t generally get exclusives

It's a mixture. Lots of the media hates anyone except the Tory Right and Farage. And another big chunk of it hates Starmer because he won the election while disdaining them and their politicians. That leaves basically the Daily Mirror and Mailwatch as being basically supportive of the Government. Scrapping the two child cap, recognizing Palestine, public sector pay rises, borrowing more for investment, industrial policy, rebuilding relations with the EU, none of these things turn out to matter too much to lots of the people who've advocated for them for years.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Talking of certain media having it for Starmer, someone posted this quote today.

Let me put it this way: Nations depend on rules – fair rules. Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values. They guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to one another. Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important. Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.

I wasn't a fan of that speech, in terms of tactics or lots of the substance, but the representation of it as being Powellite was worse than the speech itself.

And the Government actually did reduce its emphasis on controlling immigration, which again is what its critics said it should do, but which they then ignore when it happens.

[Boiler]

Guardian BTL is frothing at the thought of Rayner as PM. I suspect anyone who says she'd be hopeless is in for a kicking.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lucky she hasn’t got any recent scandals that would help the Farage “they’re all the same” argument.

Bridget Philipson would be better.

[Boiler]

I think she would too.

[The Weeping Angel]

You shouldn't try to regain the initiative, Keir.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The chair of the ISC seems to be saying that they will block the release of stuff on national security grounds, if I've understood him correctly. I'd be surprised if they didn't regard the need to protect relations with the UK's biggest (still, just about) defence ally as national security too.

Which is what the Government proposed, and is absolutely standard in release of documents. Now it may be argued that the Government needed to outsource to the committee for political reasons, but there was a great deal of bollocks from MPs and media about cover ups. This Government simply isn't allowed to do what others routinely do. And more than that, I think lots of the media would be attacking a Labour Opposition for taking the line Badenoch has. "Oh, you don't think national security and international relations are important, do you?"