Silly question, what’s this here democracy this and previous governments have banged on about, or is it just a neologism.
Robbins (PPE, my old college) himself is a ‘back from the wilderness’ character, so maybe he had some sympathy for Mandelson ?
OK, in Robbins’ case the wilderness included being ‘Investment Banking MD’ at Goldman Sachs after a year as the Jeremy Heywood (History and Economics, my old college again) Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government. So quite a busy and well-connected wilderness really.
It’s how we come to have this lot rather than Rishi. And how there’s a risk we’ll get chippy man-of-the-people Nige if we’re not careful.
Off topic.
I thought of you yesterday Graeme, passed Daresbury Science Park on my way for a crafty pint at the Ring o Bells and a look around the Lewis Carrol church. No democracy involved, an autocratic decision.
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Not as regular a haunt in my youth as the Hatton Arms, but still good.
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An old mate from there got in touch a month ago - he was down here trying to get a technical problem sorted out (not a euphemism, for once). We spent a great evening in my (old) lab’s equivalent of The Ring of Bells, which is this place
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Stronzi’s swamp cleaning services
150–160 billionaires live in the UK. All need blocking from media and politics.
DMG Media, News UK, Telegraph Media Group
Hungary has the right Idea:
Oh and glue Wednesdays
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I saw a great interview with him yesterday where the Orban dominated (for decades) state propaganda outlet/broadcaster was firmly put in their place & were shocked by the experience.
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Yes, his interview on state TV where he basically said ‘you’re all cunts and out of a job’ was just a delight.
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Superb. How refreshing.
It’ll be interesting to see how it works out in Hungary as under Orban they’ve been the prime financial backers of the whole far-right movement for years.
I just hope he has a top notch security detail.
Turns out the Cabinet Secretary, the most senior civil servant and Cat Little both knew and didn’t tell Starmer… until Tuesday.
He’s toast, the only question is when he goes, not if. I’m putting my money on the week after the local elections.
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He’s been entirely fucking useless and has ensured Labour won’t be elected for another 14 years. Judging by this total, embarrassing, shit show of a government, no more than they deserve.
Soooo disappointing 
I just can’t believe that, it’s bizarre that they wouldn’t pass something like that up the chain.
Someone failing failing vetting is an immediate “cover your arse job”
I don’t agree Mike.
There has been plenty of bad press, but he has done a decent job with the hand that he has been dealt.
Yes, expectations were high, but reality bites.
He’s held together a party that is divided. He’s NOT the most charismatic leader admittedly.
He doesn’t seem in control, but let’s put some context into this equation…
14 years of Tory destruction.
60 years of Labour in fighting.
Trump being a disrupter.
Then charged with improving the lives of the average punter without proper resources and severe depts. Added to the extreme bias of the mainstream media, and the imagery is bad.
Reality determined that there are difficult choices and decisions.
His focus is on GB. There are always distractions. Trump is but one.
His plan is sound.
He’s a safe pair of hands who doesn’t receive the credit that he deserves.
Some of the messaging is poor. He needs a better Spin Doctor.
Sadly, the public would prefer a buffoon like Johnson, than somebody who has principles.
This isn’t about Starmer. This is about politics in the 21st century.
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It’s been obvious since the story was muckraked out that Starmer knew enough dirt on Mandelson to make employing him as a fucking kitchen porter deeply questionable. I mean, Starmer, like most of us, was fucking alive when several of the Mandy-scandals went public. You cannot not know he’s a wrong’un, even before the vetting nonsense.
And there was the example of Dominic Cuntings still - surely - fresh in everyone’s minds? Another opportunistic scumbag given WAY too much power for no tangible reason.
The only real question I have is fucking WHY? Why employ such a dodgy wrong’un? Did he know too much? Did he have dirt that could only be kept quiet with a juicy job?
Anyway, yeah, Starmer is toast.
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The cynic in me thinks someone thought someone with ties to Epstein etc might actually be handy.
And, together with Starmer, this is the problem. Nobody in their right mind would believe he didn’t know about all of the shit he says he didn’t know about.
I so wanted them to come good, but they are proving themselves to be the same old 70’s Labour party and it just doesn’t wash. Their messaging is shit (that isn’t hard to put right in this age), their fiscal policies (are there any ?) are shit, he comes across as, and likely is, a clueless sop and, if the party are so divided and awash with in fighting, then let’s face it, are no better than the Tories.
Whatever came before them, they have exacerbated it.
Sooo disappointing.
If it was anybody but Starmer it might not be such a big problem, but it was Starmer.
Terry is right - they are doing a broadly decent job in horrible circumstances, they are failing - dismally - to control the narrative and get the good stuff out there, and they are of course very much at the mercy of a corporate press that wants them out of office ASAP so they can get Farage and his gang of shills in place to remove the last vestiges of democracy from this cuntry, turn us into a corporate tax haven, and thereby give moany twats something to truly get their teeth into…