Starmer's vision quest

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albion

Guest
 

glasgowcyclist

Über Member
TLDR: A Conservative MP has made a complaint that Lord Alli has failed to register interests because this mud slinging tactic is working really well at the moment. Therefore he is being investigated for potential breaches.

It was barely more than a headline of a breaking news item when I posted the link. There was no detail that needed a TLDR version! And I agree, these are *potential* breaches, which is implied when I wrote “allegations of”.
 

glasgowcyclist

Über Member
Too late to edit my post above, but this is the full text of the report when I first linked to it:

Labour peer Lord Alli is being investigated by the House Lords' commissioner over "alleged non-registration of interests".​
The long-standing Labour donor has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after he donated clothes and glasses to senior politicians, including Sir Keir Starmer.​
The prime minister has since said Labour politicians will no longer take donations like this.​
As a peer in the House of Lords, Alli is required to register his interests in line with the parliamentary code of conduct.​
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
 

icowden

Legendary Member
I suppose @icowden has to choose between some really duff hills to die on. Will it be "shady billionaires owning political parties and picking their candidates is OK, actually", or "paying private school fees bigger than most people's annual income to buy my kids an advantage makes me an oppressed minority".
How about paying private school fees bigger than most people's annual income to ensure my kids have a fair education due to massive failure by previous governments to ensure that there are enough settings suitable for children with additional needs?

I'd happily have sent my kids to state school. One is dyslexic, was being massively failed by her state primary and needs additional support and small class sizes. The other is Type 1 diabetic and has acute anxiety requiring small class sizes, an on-site Nurse and additional counselling and pastoral care.

You can fark right off with your "buying my kids an advantage" shoot. I'm part of the around 20% of parents who have re-mortgaged and sacrificed precisely because there are no suitable schools. I know children who were withdrawn from secondary and home-schooled before moving to private school where their anxiety, eating disorders, autism etc could actually be managed in a caring and adequate environment. Those are the parents affected by the VAT hike. The ones that have bursaries or scholarships, a huge mortgage and a debt to the bank of mum and dad, or granny and grandad.

Maybe we could spend some money on providing adequate schooling rather than whinging about people "buying an advantage". Sure there are parents who pay for their kids to be flown from the school ski trip to their resort in val d'whatever, and kids who have home cinemas, gyms etc. Their parents couldn't give a monkeys about VAT being charged. That's where Starmer and the Labour party are completely blinded by their own ideology.

I chose not to vote Tory because the Conservative party isn't any more. It's a far right party being led by ever more demented politicians. Who would I like to be in power? A coalition between the Greens and LibDems I think. They are far more sensible than either of the two mainstream parties, but they don't have a cat in hells chance of every being in charge as the system is rigged against them.

Sure, it's very principled of the Greens not to accept donations, gifts and what have you. That's why they have 4 mps. You can't change the system until you are in charge of it.
 

theclaud

Reading around the chip
*snip* fark right off *snip*

Oooh seem to have touched a nerve there.
Maybe we could spend some money on providing adequate schooling

A £10.5 billion increase in the schools budget within a parliament, you mean - that sort of thing?

You can't change the system until you are in charge of it.

How's that system change shaping up, now that the sensibles who have been barking this at us for years are, in fact, in charge of it?
 

icowden

Legendary Member
Oooh seem to have touched a nerve there.
You think? I just get a *teensy* bit fed up with the "buying your way to success because you're rich" narrative that conveniently forgets the significant sector that isn't but managed to buy the right house at the right time.

A £10.5 billion increase in the schools budget within a parliament, you mean - that sort of thing?
It would help. I just think we should be looking at where we can raise the most revenue the quickest rather than political point scoring. Non-dom tax evasion, multinational tax evasion and companies extracting government money from utilities would be my starting point.

How's that system change shaping up, now that the sensibles who have been barking this at us for years are, in fact, in charge of it?
How could we possibly know? I'm not sure that these are the sensibles either. I just think it's only fair to give them a chance, and political change does take more than 2 months to actually measure. Who knows, they might do a better job than the last lot - they can't do any worse.

As I said, my preferred Government would be a liberal coalition. But then I'm centre or maybe centre-right in my views.
 

monkers

Legendary Member
Who knows, they might do a better job than the last lot - they can't do any worse.
So many people think that and get proven wrong. I'm not only thinking about general election results, but those Tory leadership elections. It seems to get worse with each change. Am I holding my breath? I think that's probably best when it feels your head is being pushed under water.

While you are right two months isn't long, some of them did promise some rapid change, but it feels to me now that I'm just hearing excuses, with 'wait till after the budget'. Instead of looking forward to the budget, I'm feeling pretty cold towards it without knowing what's in it. Ahead of this budget I feel the economy cooling off, not that it was hot.

When it comes to leaders, we've had two brands of Tories and Labour, in each case split down ideological lines, the Lem Sips unexpectedly helping out on the wrong team, later the DUP helping out the wrong'uns, and now a Labour government where none of us are confident about who they are and what they will do. I would have liked a Green government because ''they can't do any worse'', and actually they do have a plan and it's very clear.
 
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