[The Weeping Angel]

Starmer has spoken.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ir-starmer

Britain will “never surrender” to far-right protesters who use the flag as cover for violence and to instil fear, Keir Starmer has said, condemning attacks against police officers and the racist intimidation of minorities.

Starmer said the St George’s flag “represents our diverse country” and that he would not tolerate people being “intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin”.

The prime minister had been urged by MPs and anti-fascist groups to speak up against some of the rhetoric on the largest nationalist event protest in decades, organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

In his first comment on the march, Starmer said there was a right to peaceful protest but that violence and intimidation were unacceptable and condemned the appropriation of the St George’s flag by the far right, anti-immigration protesters.

[Oboogie]

Inevitably it's not enough for some on BSky, Starmer must dance to Robinson's tune, nothing less will prove he's not a Nazi.

[The Weeping Angel]

Inevitably it's not enough for some on BSky, Starmer must dance to Robinson's tune, nothing less will prove he's not a Nazi.

I saw that he also threw Peter Kyle under a bus.

[Oboogie]

Inevitably it's not enough for some on BSky, Starmer must dance to Robinson's tune, nothing less will prove he's not a Nazi.

I saw that he also threw Peter Kyle under a bus.

Who did?

[mattomac]

What Kyle said was codswallop though. The Home Secretary had gone further he only had to stick to that.

[The Weeping Angel]

Inevitably it's not enough for some on BSky, Starmer must dance to Robinson's tune, nothing less will prove he's not a Nazi.

I saw that he also threw Peter Kyle under a bus.

Who did?

Starmer.

[kreuzberger]

FFS, how difficult is it to refine a consistent message when Neanderthal fascists are fighting plod and pissing in the street?

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's just been promoted and all. Seems like he's probably good at talking to investors, but don't put him up for Sunday morning shows.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Article on skills here by Heather Stewart, one of the fairer commentators at this rag, about apprenticeships. It's another thing where the Government has inherited an absolute shitshow.

Government spending on adult education halved between 2011-12 and 2019-20. It then recovered somewhat as the worst years of austerity came to an end, but by last year it was still £1bn down in real terms.

Meanwhile, despite endless speeches by politicians of all stripes about how vocational skills should have the same status as university (I have sat through quite a few: it is compulsory to mention Germany), the numbers of people completing apprenticeships have collapsed.

Official figures show 178,220 people earned an apprenticeship in England in 2023-24, down by more than a third on 2017-18, when the apprenticeship levy was introduced.

So things have deteriorated since New Labour, who (we kept being told) only cared about universities?

She makes rather too much of the ministers still not having decided which department does exactly what with skills- the DWP and Education. It's been a week.

How much would the old age pension have to be reduced by to save £1bn to restore that skills funding to 2010 level? Probably not all that much seeing the total cost is £125bn. But that's unthinkable, apparently. I know we did Brexit and that didn't help, but Christ, seems like so much could be improved if we didn't tie ourselves in knots with promises not to raise the big taxes (I think all 3 main parties did that, Reform wanted to cut them) and triple locks and the like.

[The Weeping Angel]

Considering that Stephen's whole USP is a journalist who understands Labour and politics, it's remarkable that he thinks abandoning the ERB won't go badly with MPs, unions, or members.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

ERB?

[Youngian]

Employment Rights Bill?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The ERB is a quid pro quo with business that it raises costs but there’s deregulation of various sorts (especially planning) and a better relationship with the EU.

I’ve been amazed how little interest the left actually have in industrial policy, employment rights etc. Perhaps being more like Ed Davey would be more popular. Or we could take the good bits from Davey and add it on.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Ah. NIGI.

[Oboogie]

Starmer's a Tory, Starmer's doing nothing to help the poor, Starmer's a neo-liberal etc etc. Not what the public think and not what the Unions think - when they know what he actually is doing.

[The Weeping Angel]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... in-britain

Labour’s plans for a massive expansion of nuclear power have been given a boost with a string of transatlantic deals for new modular reactors announced before Donald Trump’s visit.

The UK and US governments have promised to fast track safety checks, and announced several new private sector investment deals, with Labour emphasising the potential benefits for jobs and growth.

In the biggest and most advanced commercial project, Britain’s largest energy supplier Centrica will pair with the US reactor firm X-energy to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool, announcing an investment that could create up to 2,500 jobs in the north-east of England.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the US-UK agreement, expected to be signed off formally during the state visit, was a “landmark nuclear partnership” that would also power economic growth.

Of course this will be denounced as selling out to Trump by the likes of the Greens.

[The Weeping Angel]

Not good.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... t-messages

A senior adviser to Keir Starmer has resigned after it was revealed he sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Paul Ovenden quit on Monday as the prime minister’s director of political strategy after details emerged about a sexually explicit WhatsApp conversation he had in 2017.

His resignation is another setback for the beleaguered prime minister, who has also lost his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his Washington ambassador, Peter Mandelson, to separate scandals in the last two weeks.

The messages show Ovenden and a friend joking about a party that Ovenden had attended the night before at which attenders had joked about having sex with Abbott, the Labour MP who is the longest-serving woman in the Commons.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This doesn't matter much seeing nobody knows who he is and how it was 8 years ago. Hopefully the message has hit home by now that you don't put anything in a WhatsApp that you don't want to see on the front of newspapers tmrw.

I just hope they're working on sensible stuff for the budget.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The idea that the Government was going to do anything but announce some business investment and usher Trump on his way seems very fanciful. Guess what? They can still announce all these extra high tech jobs in a deprived region.

The prime minister was hoping to use the US president’s state visit, which begins on Tuesday, as a platform to refocus attention on his economic and foreign policy agenda.

Instead Trump will arrive to meet a beleaguered prime minister who is under criticism from both the right and the left of the party. Allies of alternative leaders are talking up their candidates’ prospects of rescuing the government’s standing.

I'm sure Starmer wants to do better in the polls but this constant "PM was hoping to turn everything around this week, but now can't because of someone nobody's heard of" is pure journo narrative as news. Same thing happened with Brown who couldn't announce anything without it being a "failed relaunch" (as it happened there was some improvement in polls by the election). And with Sunak too, in fairness.

The bigger problem by far is the feeling that Starmer isn't up to the challenge from Yaxley-Lennon.

[Tubby Isaacs]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... in-britain

Labour’s plans for a massive expansion of nuclear power have been given a boost with a string of transatlantic deals for new modular reactors announced before Donald Trump’s visit.

The UK and US governments have promised to fast track safety checks, and announced several new private sector investment deals, with Labour emphasising the potential benefits for jobs and growth.

In the biggest and most advanced commercial project, Britain’s largest energy supplier Centrica will pair with the US reactor firm X-energy to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool, announcing an investment that could create up to 2,500 jobs in the north-east of England.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the US-UK agreement, expected to be signed off formally during the state visit, was a “landmark nuclear partnership” that would also power economic growth.

Of course this will be denounced as selling out to Trump by the likes of the Greens.

And deregulating to Trump standards, even though people who say that have no idea what regulation in the US Is like.