Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd March 2024

[refitman]

Morning all.

[gilsey]

Good morning.




Definitely not a sign of genius.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Have to say my response was and is closest to the last one - "is that it?".

A widespread impression is that he originally intended to say something "big" but for whatever reason got cold feet at the last minute.

[refitman]

[refitman]

Starmer's definitely gonna ban protests - of anything he disagrees with - if he gets power

[AnatolyKasparov]

That may or may not be true, but I don't see how it can be divulged from his fairly bland response there.

[refitman]

That may or may not be true, but I don't see how it can be divulged from his fairly bland response there.

He's fully on board with the idea that the few people who protested outside Parliament during the Palestine vote the other week and the small handfuls of people expressing their democratic right to protest their elected representatives, is an threat - both existential and physical - and must be stopped. That is what Sunak's speech was about and Starmer agrees with his whole body.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Have to say my response was and is closest to the last one - "is that it?".

A widespread impression is that he originally intended to say something "big" but for whatever reason got cold feet at the last minute.

It was completely bizarre, I can't remember a Prime Minister standing in front of 10 Downing Street making a statement that left everyone going 'Huh?'

All it seems to have done is make most of us laugh at his hypocrisy while pissing off the far right who he's been courting by equating them with Islamic extremists.

I honestly don't know what to make of it.

[refitman]

Can we all remember when Mason's brain wasn't made of mashed potato? Back when he was a respected economics journalist?

[refitman]

It was completely bizarre, I can't remember a Prime Minister standing in front of 10 Downing Street making a statement that left everyone going 'Huh?'

All it seems to have done is make most of us laugh at his hypocrisy while pissing off the far right who he's been courting by equating them with Islamic extremists.

I honestly don't know what to make of it.

Everyone except Starmer it seems, who has gone "you know, this Sunak fella's got some good ideas".

[frog222]

Daily life in Ukraine --

[Sky'sGoneOut]

The problem with Aditya Chakrabortty's theory, and it's essentially the same as what Dan Hodges has been suggesting, is that I don't see how it helps the Tories.

Maybe I'm being thick but it seems to me that unless Labour disown a load more of their candidates and face someone of Galloway's dubious talents in all of those seats it's not going to make a jot of difference to the election result. Yes people are pissed of about Gaza and Labour's prevarication, but they're a lot more pissed off about the state of their finances and the NHS. So sure, it may knock a few hundred votes off Labour in a handful of seats, but compared to what the Tories are facing it's a pin prick.

And anyway by equating the far right with Islamic extremists Sunak will have lost just as many to the right as he's hoping to peel off from Labour's left.

It just doesn't make any sense. Though If you're as desperate as the Tories are I guess you'll grasp at any straw you can get your hands on.

[refitman]

But Labour are only promising to bring more private provision into the NHS, I've not seen anything about improving the finances of people who aren't already very rich, their 'commitment' to tackling climate change is diminishing by day, if you're LGBTQ+ they seem pretty sanguine about one of their MPs trying to block legislation preventing you being mentally tortured and if you're a Muslim you can just go jump. What is the attraction of voting Labour again?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Yes, seeing this as a "clever trap" by Sunak is reading far too much into it.

Starmer basically said "I agree with Sunak - I want unity". That's basically it.

Of course we all know that the Tories don't *really* want unity, but culture wars. Still, why not use their own words against them.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

But Labour are only promising to bring more private provision into the NHS, I've not seen anything about improving the finances of people who aren't already very rich, their 'commitment' to tackling climate change is diminishing by day, if you're LGBTQ+ they seem pretty sanguine about one of their MPs trying to block legislation preventing you being mentally tortured and if you're a Muslim you can just go jump. What is the attraction of voting Labour again?

They're not the Tories and most of them seem to be at least reasonably sane.

[refitman]

Oh. My. God.

Reeves needs to fire her media team ASAP

[frog222]

That captured her personality !

Now for someone completely different --

"Do you not respect the Prime Minister ? "

Oh dear !

[Sky'sGoneOut]

That would be the cleanest public toilet I've seen for a while. Usually if I can get in and out without retching I count it as a win.

To me it looks more like the cover of a gloomy German Electro single from about 1981.

[gilsey]

But Labour are only promising to bring more private provision into the NHS, I've not seen anything about improving the finances of people who aren't already very rich, their 'commitment' to tackling climate change is diminishing by day, if you're LGBTQ+ they seem pretty sanguine about one of their MPs trying to block legislation preventing you being mentally tortured and if you're a Muslim you can just go jump. What is the attraction of voting Labour again?

I agree with all that but it's not resonating with people who don't follow politics closely, is it. We're a small minority.

Labour went ahead in the polls 2 years ago for good reasons and the 20-point lead's been quite steady for a year, imo it's not going to move this side of the election.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Plus, some of us are still waiting to see what Labour are actually like in government (voters willing, as ever) Chris Dillow certainly does not hesitate to critique the current leadership, but one thing he gets right is that their incentives will be different (and quite likely better) in government rather than opposition.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Another grim day for us United supporters.

Anyhoo...I agree with Caroline in as much as this was what Sunak was attempting, where I disagree is its importance. Sunak's intent was undoubtedly malign, but he's such an inadequate lightweight he merely ended up looking ridiculous.

Still it would have been nice to hear some of this kind of thing from Starmer rather than his feeble accordance.

I’m still reeling from Rishi Sunak’s shameless, dangerous speech - Caroline Lucas

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... line-lucas

The prime minister’s address on Friday was a masterclass in gaslighting and made a new art form of rank hypocrisy

[AnatolyKasparov]

But that's the point I made initially - it was being built up as him announcing something dramatic and draconian, but it ended up as not much more than "I agree with good things and disagree with bad things". Which is why I think some of the criticism of Starmer is a bit off.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Poor Things

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230458/

I've got a bit of a love hate thing going on with Yorgos Lanthimos, I loved Dogtooth and The Favourite, but hated The Lobster, this however is on a completely other level, I loved and was repelled by it both at the same time. Is it a twisted feminist parable? Is it sick sexual exploitation? Or is it both?

One thing's for sure, it's gorgeous to look at, I've seen some reviewers lazily refer to its settings as steampunk whereas in fact it takes place in a lush, lavish, Art Nouveau surrealist world, often using a wide angle fish eye lens to distort reality further. It's undeniably beautiful. And then there's Emma Stone, who is simply brilliant as the protagonist, who we see a lot of. She'll never play another role remotely like it in her life and she absolutely nails it. There's been a little moaning in Scotland because it was removed from the book's Glasgow setting, but fear not, to make up for it Willem Dafoe gets to do a terrible Scottish accent and it doesn't matter because he's still great, while Mark Ruffalo puts in a splendid performance as the cad.

I honestly don't want to give anything away and I'd encourage everyone to see this film when you can because for once the hype is deserved. Like all of Lanthinos' films it's deeply disturbing, but there's beauty, humour, and rationality juxtaposing the stupidity and ugliness it mocks.

The more I think about it and let it sink in the more I love it.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Anyway back to politics.

Perhaps a little belatedly I'd like to inform the voters of Rochdale about George Galloway's previous in Scotland.

Read it and weep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_for_Unity

One of its candidates was Alan Sked, founder of ukip, another was a vocal 'Tommy Robinson' supporter who Galloway failed to criticise because when it came to getting rid of the SNP the ends justified the means.

To be honest I'd completely forgotten about this, hopefully because of Galloway's abject failure (0.9% of vote 2021) rather than the decline of my mental faculties, which are at least still capable of remembering him endorsing Farage and claiming he voted Tory in Scottish elections.

So salam all you gullible morons who voted for this opportunistic grifter, you had every opportunity to check his record in Bradford to see if he did anything useful. He didn't, he fucked off once elected and never came back and they voted him out at the very next opportunity. Inshallah he'll treat you better.

Saying all that Kezia Dugdale while leader of the Scottish Labour Party encouraged people to vote Tory to keep the SNP out so at least North of the border such shenanigans aren't restricted to some idiot in a fedora.

[Sky'sGoneOut]