news & politics:discussion

[steviewevie]

Thatcher more than anyone else has helped with our net zero goals.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

So what was in the article that hasn't been mentioned? You appear to have Starmer's ear and are the font of all knowledge (as long as it's Twitter/X based, of course). What have I missed please as it seems to me that Starmer highly rates a previous Tory PM, a war criminal and a Labour prime minister from 1951.

He never praised Thatcher, he just said she brought about meaningful change, which she did. Thats it, nothing else. Any excuse to shift focus off the Tories hey. 

[steviewevie]

8 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

So what was in the article that hasn't been mentioned? You appear to have Starmer's ear and are the font of all knowledge (as long as it's Twitter/X based, of course). What have I missed please as it seems to me that Starmer highly rates a previous Tory PM, a war criminal and a Labour prime minister from 1951.

yeah I don't know about Blair, maybe he gets some kudos because he won 3 elections, but then so did Wilson but no one remembers him...but Attlee and Thatcher are probably the two PMs who have made the most difference to the country since WW2.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

yeah I don't know about Blair, maybe he gets some kudos because he won 3 elections, but then so did Wilson but no one remembers him...but Attlee and Thatcher are probably the two PMs who have made the most difference to the country since WW2.

Blair is our 2nd best PM, I’d say.

Your last point is fair to be honest, and people should have the critical thinking skills to be able to look past a headline. Also Starmer did more than a lot of Labour MPs back then to fight Thatcher. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Ozanne

[steviewevie]

13 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Blair is our 2nd best PM, I’d say.

Your last point is fair to be honest, and people should have the critical thinking skills to be able to look past a headline. Also Starmer did more than a lot of Labour MPs back then to fight Thatcher. 

is Thatcher no.1?

[steviewevie]

Resolution Foundation stagnation thingy

Edited December 4, 2023 by steviewevie

[steviewevie]

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Blair is our 2nd best PM, I’d say.

Your last point is fair to be honest, and people should have the critical thinking skills to be able to look past a headline. Also Starmer did more than a lot of Labour MPs back then to fight Thatcher. 

That's a bit rich comng from you. The vast majority of your posts are Twitter/X headlines with no comment from you.

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Blair is our 2nd best PM, I’d say.

Your last point is fair to be honest, and people should have the critical thinking skills to be able to look past a headline. Also Starmer did more than a lot of Labour MPs back then to fight Thatcher. 

He wasn't an MP when Thatcher was in power was he?

[Guest]

Starmer's Thatcher comments aren't getting a good press today.

[cellar]

The Starmer Thatcher thing is just a bit embarrassing really - a transparent attempt to win over Tory voters. All looks a bit desperate.

[steviewevie]

11 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

Starmer's Thatcher comments aren't getting a good press today.

Yesterday's news...today it's Starmer saying Labour won't turn on the spending taps...so more austerity Woohoo!

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Yesterday's news...today it's Starmer saying Labour won't turn on the spending taps...so more austerity Woohoo!

It will be a better type of austerity though.

[squirrelarmy]

As a Northerner who grew up in Thatchers era I’ve witnessed firsthand the effects of the mines being shut not that long after the closure of the mills  

She is a hated figure up here still but she knew changes had to be made, the mining era had to end at some point. My city changed from being a centre of the wool trade to a telecoms hub in the 80s  

The old mining towns are still feeling the effects even though they’re now becoming commuter hubs for those working in the city. It’s only the older generations still being bitter.

[steviewevie]

Thatcher was right. She set loose our natural entrepreneurialism or something stupid like that.

Or

Thatcher is the antithesis of everything Labour should be about. 

You take your picks.  It might help Labour win over some disillusioned Tory voters, but will also make Starmer even more unpopular within Labour which might come back to bite him on the bum when things aren't going so well. 

[steviewevie]

 

[steviewevie]

Going to make it harder for lower paid migrants to come in...which will help.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

He wasn't an MP when Thatcher was in power was he?

No he wasn’t. Starmer represented striking miners, preparing legal cases and when the NUM couldn't pay for it, he did it for free.

[steviewevie]

Sellafield nuclear power station has been hacked. That's all.

[steviewevie]

Starmer doing his speech at the moment, saying how he loves Thatcher and hates taxes and spending and immigration.

(actually he isn't, he's going on about growth and new deals etc).

[steviewevie]

I watched some of that Starmer resolution foundation speech thingy...it was all turbo charging growth and new deals. He was asked about the 28bill thing a few times and reiterated the commitment to ramp up to that level of investment in 2nd half of parliament as long as meets fiscal rules (bet they regret the 28bill number now), he didn't say they would cut spending and that labour always invests in public services, but did talk about reform an not just throwing money at it etc., and that what he meant to say in that Telegraph article was that Thatcher was actually a massive c**t which got a standing ovation.

[kalifire]

Israel now bombing the part of Gaza they told Palestinians to flee to. There’s no defending these war crimes.

Edited December 4, 2023 by kalifire

[Neil]

8 hours ago, steviewevie said:

Cancer in the UK 2020: socio-economic deprivation (cancerresearchuk.org)

thanks,  thats got some identifiable  causes of cancer  that might be said to be caused by deprived circumstances smoking and diet,  but there's fewer solid reasons for a stroke  in the same way as "smoking = lung cancer".

smoking is recognised as a cause of strokes, but with a less strong link than for cancer. strokes cant really be put down to poverty because they cant be out down to any cause that can then be linked (or not) to poverty.

 

mine was blamed on an existing blood clot, which might be blamed on  diet - me eating a lot of takeaways (but you need money and not poverty for takeaways) and it might be blamed on smoking, but those sorts of reasons don't work for a healthy living type like Michael johnson.

(i understand there's a few things that can be done to lessen the incidents of stroke mostly oldies taking cheap drugs  (blood thinners and statins) every day. the severity of the disability is down to how quickly unclotting_treatment can be started, and the nhs is rolling out improved treatment pathways  (dedicated stroke entrance at a&e / etc )to deal with that.

[Neil]

the stats say - rich or poor  - if cancer doesn't get you a stroke will. 

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Barry Fish said:

Absolutely...  The bar was set WAY too low.

has to be set low cos the immigrants we want to attract are care workers - which are low paid, with a high bar there's a risk of all the good jobs going to immigrants.