Well said Bear. You have comprehensively mirrored my experience & disappointment Starmer’s’ Labour Government continues to deliver. They have done some good things, many which do not get any media attention. But it’s not enough, the bad decisions are big & the direction of travel unappealing.
I didn’t vote for Labour because I saw them as divided with too much focus on internal infighting & navel gazing. The LibDems got my tactical vote at the GE & I joined the Green Party a couple of years ago. That’s because they more closely resembled the sort of social democratic parties which govern so well under PR in Europe, Scandinavia & Nordic countries. Little wonder they are constantly voted as having the happiest people.
Immigration needs controls, but immigrants are needed & as you know already keep the NHS afloat. The UK is badly lacking in trained & well educated employees across the piste. This coupled with a birth rate which is below that needed to sustain us is a problem immigration is best placed to help solve.
There is so much the Labour government could be focussing on e.g. rejoining the EU, bringing in a fair taxation system, rebuilding a publicly owned NHS, a formal constitution, reform a f the HoL, firm rules for parliament, taking our rail & utilities back under public control and so on. But instead Starmer looks away, as he does in respect of the genocide in Gaza. So yes, like you I wanted to give Labour a chance to prove themselves, but now I cannot afford them further support. Thankfully Zack Polanski has revitalised the Green Party, is internet savvy & a smart politician who knows where to focus his attentions & promote a viable alternative . He & Ed Davey have much to talk to each other about.
Clegg is as relevant to Lib Dems as Tony Blair is to Labour: irrelevant, antiquated and an indelible stain on the country’s history as their respective party’s history.
How daft to judge a party based on a leader who hasn’t set foot in the country in 15 years.
Keir Starmer was never my favourite person but I thought he was a man of integrity and decency. I now despair, there doesn't seem to be any real representation of the tolerant, compassionate people. I think I praised where I thought it was due, but, like you, there have been some decisions that I didn't think had been thought through enough and had a detrimental effect on the vulnerable. I think I'm beginning to understand voter apathy. It feels like being between a rock and a hard place.
You have encapsulated my thoughts perfectly; with so many ‘open goals’ at his mercy - Starmer has consistently missed the target (& indeed the point). I still believe the vast majority of the UK are fairly moderate & decent people - they are looking for leadership and bold new ideas. They could start with ‘tax wealth not work’
Sadly I have to agree with you. Its abhorrent no push back at all. Angela would have destroyed Reform by now. Makes me think it was an inside job to get rid of her.
More in sorrow than in anger... no. Actually angry. Thought Starmer was playing a careful, nuanced long game and Labour principles would arise from the wreckage left by the Tories. Wishful thinking, alas.
Yep, I have to agree. If I have to have a label, I'd say Social Democrat. I want good, competent government that works for everyone. Labour just isn't doing that. You mention the Greens & LDs - that means that , at the next election, there will be 5 parties battling it out. We desperately need PR but I don't think either Labour or the Tories truly grasp this & the result will be that we'll get God knows what sort of a government in 2029 because both parties will be dead in the water. Both are trying to appeal to Refuks & bugger the rest of the electorate. Grim stuff.
Can I just add to that list, the fact that their support for Israel, long beyond the point where it was just or fair was the dealbreaker for me.
They have done a few other good things like nursery places, and they started proper repairs on schools and they are trying to change the planning laws, but the whole immigration thing is a moral scourge
I'm also fuming about the 'name and shame' offenders proposal being floated. Not because it's a bad idea (although it is), but because it's talking up bandwidth. The Government could use that time to focus on the really important issues.
On my To do list is 'fill out postal vote' form. It feels like low priority because I don't know if I'll feel able to vote for anybody - and I've voted every time for nearly 50 years!
I really don't understand, why, when the Government has so many open goals, it goes onto a different pitch to play a different game (with the wrong equipment).
I am both saddened and angered by the state we find ourselves in as a country. I cannot find anything redeemable about this Starmer Government at all and there is at least one of the Cabinet l have respected for a long time but no longer. My respect goes to backbenchers such as Richard Burgeon who is certainly standing up and being counted. I watched Lucy Powell’s interview with Nick Robinson this week. She’s grown up a bit since the days she was so gobby on the Andrew Neil show, always a mistake with him, researched to his finger tips whether you like him or not. I hope she becomes Deputy but l have a sneaking feeling she may not. Not sure the Government, well Starmer and his crony McSweeney Actually want to have truth told to them. That’s the rub isn’t it? In order to acknowledge the truth they’d have to stand up and be counted. Starmer was late in making a comment about the Tommy Robinson protest (yes l know his real name is something else but really? Do l care). Then it was a mumbled answer about well he loves our flag and he has one. Yvette Cooper had too and more. Give me strength! We are not going to let them appropriate our flag for their purposes. Really! I’d say it’s already happened, and roundabouts too. Come on! Is that the answer.
Today l hear that the PM is being urged to go to the Climate Change Conference but being cautioned in caseit means the ire of Reform will be wreaked on Labour. I can’t believe this is being said. This is our sovereign government ffs. Had no one told them they’re in charge. Running scared of Farage and his piddling little group of nutters. Another three years of this and we’ll all be lying in the gutter but few of us will be looking at the stars.
Up until the last election, I had voted LD - I voted Lab in 2024 for the same reasons many others did - the country desperately needed change and Labour was most likely to win. (As an aside, I live in the Clacton constituency so my vote was wasted anyway.) I also thought that, unlike Sunak, Truss, Johnson et al, Starmer was at least a decent human being - I still think that, although the policies he's coming up with aren't really helping to bolster that belief! The number of own goals and now this stupid chasing for votes they're NEVER going to get is completely baffling - they have a big mandate and should have implemented swingeing press reform - the MSM was always going to be hostile so they might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb - which might have helped cut down the number of times a day we have to hear/read about Fartrage spouting off! I shall probably be going back to the LDs next time, although I agree that Polanski is making an impression so I'll be keeping an eye out - if the MSM ever gives him and airtime/column inches!
Totally with you on this. Labour have missed a golden opportunity to be really radical. Coming after the extended Tory shitshow they could have implemented policies to mitigate the country's ills even though they would be painful. Increase taxation for those with the broadest shoulders. Closer ties with Europe faster and more detailed. Stop pollution of the environment. Kill off infrastructure programmes that were wasting billions. Do the Norther powerhouse stuff. Increase defence capability. Instead they cling to power like they are fingernail hanging off a cliff. Cowardly and indulgent does not begin to describe them. The only thing they have going for them is they are not Tories. What a bloody tragedy.
Well said Bear. You have comprehensively mirrored my experience & disappointment Starmer’s’ Labour Government continues to deliver. They have done some good things, many which do not get any media attention. But it’s not enough, the bad decisions are big & the direction of travel unappealing.
I didn’t vote for Labour because I saw them as divided with too much focus on internal infighting & navel gazing. The LibDems got my tactical vote at the GE & I joined the Green Party a couple of years ago. That’s because they more closely resembled the sort of social democratic parties which govern so well under PR in Europe, Scandinavia & Nordic countries. Little wonder they are constantly voted as having the happiest people.
Immigration needs controls, but immigrants are needed & as you know already keep the NHS afloat. The UK is badly lacking in trained & well educated employees across the piste. This coupled with a birth rate which is below that needed to sustain us is a problem immigration is best placed to help solve.
There is so much the Labour government could be focussing on e.g. rejoining the EU, bringing in a fair taxation system, rebuilding a publicly owned NHS, a formal constitution, reform a f the HoL, firm rules for parliament, taking our rail & utilities back under public control and so on. But instead Starmer looks away, as he does in respect of the genocide in Gaza. So yes, like you I wanted to give Labour a chance to prove themselves, but now I cannot afford them further support. Thankfully Zack Polanski has revitalised the Green Party, is internet savvy & a smart politician who knows where to focus his attentions & promote a viable alternative . He & Ed Davey have much to talk to each other about.
It only took 6 months to alienate me. The final straw being backing heathrow expansion.
Clive Lewis is the only voice I hear that talks to the party faithful.
Join the Greens, I and thousands of others have. It's a good place.
The libdems are saddled with the lies of Clegg, the little money grabbing opportunist, and the coalition.
Clegg has gone long ago. Ed is a decent man & their policies are decent too. I’d like an LD/Green coalition myself.
it was the £30 billion for carbon capture that finished me!
Clegg is as relevant to Lib Dems as Tony Blair is to Labour: irrelevant, antiquated and an indelible stain on the country’s history as their respective party’s history.
How daft to judge a party based on a leader who hasn’t set foot in the country in 15 years.
They've lost me too. This is not the Labour Party I thought i had voted for. Im another in the wilderness now.
Keir Starmer was never my favourite person but I thought he was a man of integrity and decency. I now despair, there doesn't seem to be any real representation of the tolerant, compassionate people. I think I praised where I thought it was due, but, like you, there have been some decisions that I didn't think had been thought through enough and had a detrimental effect on the vulnerable. I think I'm beginning to understand voter apathy. It feels like being between a rock and a hard place.
You have encapsulated my thoughts perfectly; with so many ‘open goals’ at his mercy - Starmer has consistently missed the target (& indeed the point). I still believe the vast majority of the UK are fairly moderate & decent people - they are looking for leadership and bold new ideas. They could start with ‘tax wealth not work’
Sadly I have to agree with you. Its abhorrent no push back at all. Angela would have destroyed Reform by now. Makes me think it was an inside job to get rid of her.
More in sorrow than in anger... no. Actually angry. Thought Starmer was playing a careful, nuanced long game and Labour principles would arise from the wreckage left by the Tories. Wishful thinking, alas.
I joined the green Party a few months ago, having voted Labour all my adult life.
I despair...
Yep, I have to agree. If I have to have a label, I'd say Social Democrat. I want good, competent government that works for everyone. Labour just isn't doing that. You mention the Greens & LDs - that means that , at the next election, there will be 5 parties battling it out. We desperately need PR but I don't think either Labour or the Tories truly grasp this & the result will be that we'll get God knows what sort of a government in 2029 because both parties will be dead in the water. Both are trying to appeal to Refuks & bugger the rest of the electorate. Grim stuff.
Can I just add to that list, the fact that their support for Israel, long beyond the point where it was just or fair was the dealbreaker for me.
They have done a few other good things like nursery places, and they started proper repairs on schools and they are trying to change the planning laws, but the whole immigration thing is a moral scourge
I'm also fuming about the 'name and shame' offenders proposal being floated. Not because it's a bad idea (although it is), but because it's talking up bandwidth. The Government could use that time to focus on the really important issues.
On my To do list is 'fill out postal vote' form. It feels like low priority because I don't know if I'll feel able to vote for anybody - and I've voted every time for nearly 50 years!
I really don't understand, why, when the Government has so many open goals, it goes onto a different pitch to play a different game (with the wrong equipment).
I am both saddened and angered by the state we find ourselves in as a country. I cannot find anything redeemable about this Starmer Government at all and there is at least one of the Cabinet l have respected for a long time but no longer. My respect goes to backbenchers such as Richard Burgeon who is certainly standing up and being counted. I watched Lucy Powell’s interview with Nick Robinson this week. She’s grown up a bit since the days she was so gobby on the Andrew Neil show, always a mistake with him, researched to his finger tips whether you like him or not. I hope she becomes Deputy but l have a sneaking feeling she may not. Not sure the Government, well Starmer and his crony McSweeney Actually want to have truth told to them. That’s the rub isn’t it? In order to acknowledge the truth they’d have to stand up and be counted. Starmer was late in making a comment about the Tommy Robinson protest (yes l know his real name is something else but really? Do l care). Then it was a mumbled answer about well he loves our flag and he has one. Yvette Cooper had too and more. Give me strength! We are not going to let them appropriate our flag for their purposes. Really! I’d say it’s already happened, and roundabouts too. Come on! Is that the answer.
Today l hear that the PM is being urged to go to the Climate Change Conference but being cautioned in caseit means the ire of Reform will be wreaked on Labour. I can’t believe this is being said. This is our sovereign government ffs. Had no one told them they’re in charge. Running scared of Farage and his piddling little group of nutters. Another three years of this and we’ll all be lying in the gutter but few of us will be looking at the stars.
What took you so long?
I suppose we were all living in hope.
It’s the hope that kills you!
Up until the last election, I had voted LD - I voted Lab in 2024 for the same reasons many others did - the country desperately needed change and Labour was most likely to win. (As an aside, I live in the Clacton constituency so my vote was wasted anyway.) I also thought that, unlike Sunak, Truss, Johnson et al, Starmer was at least a decent human being - I still think that, although the policies he's coming up with aren't really helping to bolster that belief! The number of own goals and now this stupid chasing for votes they're NEVER going to get is completely baffling - they have a big mandate and should have implemented swingeing press reform - the MSM was always going to be hostile so they might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb - which might have helped cut down the number of times a day we have to hear/read about Fartrage spouting off! I shall probably be going back to the LDs next time, although I agree that Polanski is making an impression so I'll be keeping an eye out - if the MSM ever gives him and airtime/column inches!
Totally with you on this. Labour have missed a golden opportunity to be really radical. Coming after the extended Tory shitshow they could have implemented policies to mitigate the country's ills even though they would be painful. Increase taxation for those with the broadest shoulders. Closer ties with Europe faster and more detailed. Stop pollution of the environment. Kill off infrastructure programmes that were wasting billions. Do the Norther powerhouse stuff. Increase defence capability. Instead they cling to power like they are fingernail hanging off a cliff. Cowardly and indulgent does not begin to describe them. The only thing they have going for them is they are not Tories. What a bloody tragedy.
I’ve been struggling to articulate exactly why I’m so disappointed with this Labour government. You have hit the nail right on the head.
They need to be brave in facing down the facists, and bold in policy making.
Look after the underprivileged, bring equality to society and take back our essential services.