Starmer's vision quest

[PurplePenguin]

I add the cream, then add more cream and leave the jam in the pot.

This. Then eat the jam neat at the end.

 

[briantrumpet]

This. Then eat the jam neat at the end.

I think I must have something wrong with me, because I don't like jam. If ever I buy it for guests, I try to get them to take the jar away when they leave, as I always end up wasting the rest. Maybe I just need to invite you and Pross round to finish it off in one go.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Hoping here but it allies doing the saying not Burnham and he's up against Reform so not the time to be pushing a more sympathetic stance towards refugees.

I'm hoping he'll avoid the issue (or at least use "slippery language") and not commit and then take a different approach. If he gets in easy to say her handling of the issues were not working and new ideas needed with new person in Home Office.

But maybe I'm deluding myself as I really don't know much about Burnham.

(to me "slippery language" is where you use words people interpret the way they want but if examined closely actually say very little).

I agree this is more than likely what they are doing, but the problem is that as has been shown throughout Labour's current tenure, it doesn't work. Burnham doesn't need Reform voters and they won't support him anyway, he needs soft lefts and progressives to vote for him (especially if the Greens are going to contest the seat). If he is against Mahmood/current Labour approaches, have the guts to say so and lay out what your actual views are (I appreciate this is a big "if" as I have no idea what Burnham's views actually are!). I don't think he can finesse voters, I suspect most voting intentions are set, there is likely only a proportion of the progressive vote there for him to win.

 

[briantrumpet]

I agree this is more than likely what they are doing, but the problem is that as has been shown throughout Labour's current tenure, it doesn't work. Burnham doesn't need Reform voters and they won't support him anyway, he needs soft lefts and progressives to vote for him (especially if the Greens are going to contest the seat). If he is against Mahmood/current Labour approaches, have the guts to say so and lay out what your actual views are (I appreciate this is a big "if" as I have no idea what Burnham's views actually are!). I don't think he can finesse voters, I suspect most voting intentions are set, there is likely only a proportion of the progressive vote there for him to win.

I think it highlights the difference between being a good/popular regional mayor and (effectively) laying out your stall for national policies. As Khan has shown (and so far, Mamdani in NY), as a mayor you can do a pile of easy and less easy things to make life in a city better, such as public transport & whatnot, but as soon as you go national you have to make choices on contentious macro policies that have always been problematic.

The more I read about Burnham, the more it seems that not having an underlying philosophy was what scuppered his two previous attempts to become Labour leader. As Starmer has shown, if you try to lead by focus group or opinion polls, people just end up realising you haven't got principles.

 

[spen666]

Scrapping the "sweet tax"

 

[Pross]

I just buy chocolate cake instead - far nicer.

Only if it has clotted cream on it.

 

[Pross]

I think I must have something wrong with me, because I don't like jam. If ever I buy it for guests, I try to get them to take the jar away when they leave, as I always end up wasting the rest. Maybe I just need to invite you and Pross round to finish it off in one go.

It's all about the clotted cream for me. I can take or leave the jam but would rather it not pollute the cream.

 

[briantrumpet]

Only if it has clotted cream on it.

In my herdsman days, the best thing ever was to grab a gallon of truly fresh unpasteurised milk out of the tank, and make proper scalded cream overnight (it's not really scalded, but gentle heating makes all the naughty fat rise to the top, which you then skim off when it's cooled down).

 

[PurplePenguin]

It's all about the clotted cream for me. I can take or leave the jam but would rather it not pollute the cream.

This. Again.

 

[PurplePenguin]

The other solid option is to trade the jam with a fellow diner for more cream.

 

[Pross]

The other solid option is to trade the jam with a fellow diner for more cream.

It feels too cruel and that you might end up in trouble when they realise they've been conned. Plus I'm not sure I could spend time with anyone who would be prepared to make that trade.

 

[PurplePenguin]

It feels too cruel and that you might end up in trouble when they realise they've been conned. Plus I'm not sure I could spend time with anyone who would be prepared to make that trade.

My grandfather taught me that ice cream and cream are not mutually exclusive. A wise man. You would have got on with him.

 

[BoldonLad]

It feels too cruel and that you might end up in trouble when they realise they've been conned. Plus I'm not sure I could spend time with anyone who would be prepared to make that trade.

You don't have to become their best friend, or, even, spend time with them, just trade with them. If necessary, perhaps, you could encage an agent in the transaction? 😂

 

[Pross]

My grandfather taught me that ice cream and cream are not mutually exclusive. A wise man. You would have got on with him.

Yep, Cornish* clotted cream ice cream with clotted cream on top (flake optional) is the best thing ever invented.

* I'm sure there are also perfectly acceptable Devon versions available too before the locals get restless.

 

[briantrumpet]

Yep, Cornish* clotted cream ice cream with clotted cream on top (flake optional) is the best thing ever invented.

* I'm sure there are also perfectly acceptable Devon versions available too before the locals get restless.

It's a subject of some contention that Roddas seemed to close down the Devon-produced alternatives. The 'Devon Cream Company' is in Melksham. I suspect that there are some small producers, but Roddas seems to have largely monopolised the market.