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Why is it down to Labour to bring back trust in politics when as usual it is the Tory lot who don't give a flying $$££ about anything except themselves.
He will do what they all do, say a lot of things to get the votes then he will go back on what he said and completely ignore the voters until it gets close to the next election at which point he will make more promises and offer a few bribes. Cycle and repeat.
Like most of the people who have commented here, I went to not one, but two boarding schools. I was rebellious and to avoid expulsion from the first, was sent to a less 'military-type' of school. It was, without doubt, much better. I have since come to the conclusion that private schools should be illegal. If every child in the UK had to go to a state school the MPs would do all they can to make sure that state schools are excellent in every way. State schools would have to give children a good academic education as well as being able to trust other people (something you learn not to do in boarding school). Simply put, youngsters would finish school with less snobbism, more open mindedness, better disposed towards others (whoever they be), more faith in a just world and more inclination to make it a fair and just world for all of us.
I went to Cambridge from a state school. When I got there all the public school types quizzed me on what school I went to. When I told them it was a state school, they refused to speak to me ever again. The state school kids went on to get the best degrees, but could only get very ordinary jobs. The public school types went on to run the country. Most of them were so thick they wouldn't have achieved an O level at my school. And that is why this country is in the state it is. We are governed by sneering, thick public school snobs.
The project will fail because you can't grow your way out of the mess we're in without state spending. So after an anemic and short lived period in power Johnson will be back with a vengeance. The fault will lie squarely with the 'pragmatists' for their lack of ambition.
He is nothing like John Smith! I don't think John Smith would have trouble knowing what a woman is, have any truck with the kind of woke agenda that Starmer believes, would of not tolerated what happened at the CPS under Starmer's tenure and would not tolerate the type of globalism that he wants, what with his links to the Trilateral Commission and the WEF.
It's all very well devolving power to communities. With it you have to devolve funds. We've had government after government avoiding real accountability by giving responsibility away without providing the means for people to accept that responsibility. It's just a means of avoiding blame and it stinks. One of the first practical steps must be to change our rating system so that people with valuable properties pay a higher proportion, and higher total sum, towards the financial responsibilities of local authorities. That should be a part of wider move to tax wealth as well as income. The second is to transfer funds from national to regional and local government. The third is to invest in local businesses with a strong bias towards those areas with the highest levels of depravation - starting with the kind of investments for which the poorest communities used to rely on the EU. There is absolutely no chance that Labour will have the courage to really tackle these things but I guess we can dream.
With Keir Starmer performing as many U-turns as Boris Johnson this is nothing other than a rhetorical suggestion. In reality, Keir Starmer is the Tory PM the establishment has been waiting for.
If Labour get into office with a decent majority, they MUST go through with electoral voting reform + parliamentary reform. All else they do, however good, is pointless if they don't do the above. Media reform is also critical It's really baffling that at the same time people say "all politicians are all the same" but use wildly skewed measures for labour
Yeah good luck with that. Leave it to the guy who stands shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Corbyn and Natalie Elphicke, depending on which benefits his career in the moment. A man who has campaigned on policies and dropped them when they no longer benefit him. Starmer doesn't stand for anything.
What the country needs is not right-wing support of the rich and punishment of the poor nor left-wing punishment of the wealth-creators. There are still left-wingers who want to stick with the kind of left-wing policies that have been shown to be electorally disastrous. Elections are won in the Middle Ground and that is where Starmer has placed the party. The people who support him may have an agenda of left-wing ideas but realize the population-at-large have to be persuaded to accept them. Declaring that they will be imposed is something middle-of-the road voters find scary.
my great grandparents were killed by colerah . the victorians built to stop that mass unnecessary killing . the water companies should never been privatised . thames water and south west are good of examples of private profit taking and failure
It is high time that private school students (6.5 percent of the school population) were limited to 6.5 percent of places at Oxford and Cambridge. They used to take a whopping 60 percent plus of Oxbridge places. This is now down to 32 percent of places but that still means that private schools are taking far more places than any real intellectual merit could possibly justify. A 6.5 percent limit would be simple to legislate and would profoundly improve the future health of the UK
I agree with what you say about public cynicism - but it has existed for a long time. The perception that there's little difference between the two main parties is of long standing. Richard Neville said "there's only an inch of difference between Labour and Conservative, but we have to live in that inch" - ambiguous, but we knew what he meant. It was said of the electoral fight between Heath and Wilson.
After the Post Office, the £100k small income and the ruin inflcted on all public services, it looks like the final nail in the Tory coffin will be criminalising people who gave up income to save the goverment money by caring for their elderly, ill or disabled relatives. An absolute sickener. It now looks as if Starmer has established himself firmly on the middle ground where the interests of the whole population, but especially those who don`t earn enough from tough jobs to feed their children. The mood seems to be "Enough is enough - no more Robin Hood-in-Reverse policies."
I will tell you exactly what Labour will do. Bugger it up even more as they always do! Keir Starmer is like a chocolate teapot. As for this Andrew Marr person, he just woffles on, saying nothing of importance. I don't know why he doesn't get a proper job, like in a bank or corner shop for example.
I follow what is happening in your country's politics and society. I find your commentary one of the very best examples of what is happening in the UK. Thank you.
Actually boarding school boys have been ruling the country for longer than 14 years,the previous government before the current Tory one was the Labour Party,headed by Tony Blair who were elected in 1997 and who is also a public school(private) boarding school boy,he was at Fettes boarding school,the most expensive boarding school in Scotland.
England is decadent and self consumed by an out of whack ego that has now absolutely no influence to shape real world affairs. The future is Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Little England will be a footnote in years to come.
I am very disappointed with the government and uninspired and untrusting of the opposition party and its leader. I'm determined to not vote Tory or Labour. Neither will bring about the meaningful change the UK needs. If Labour win it will be on the back of anti-Tory sentiment, not pro-Labour enthusiasm.
I believe the electorate gets the politics and politicians it deserves. People want to hear there is a quick fix available for complex social , economic & world issues and better still - it will come with little personal cost to themselves. So naturally they vote for people who say they can deliver that - with the resultant disillusion when they can't.
Here is a list of things that HMG could do to regain trust.. 1. Move parliment to the centre of the UK in order to symbolise that it represents ALL of the UK not just the South East 2. Outlaw lobbying, anyone caught lobbying or any MP recieving benifits from lobbying goes to jail for ten years 3. Any news organisation that is caught lying has the owners/board go to jail for ten years 4. Remove all lobby groups from parliment such as the "friends of isreal" group in both parties 5. Introduce PR 6. Renationalise the utilties, these should work for the people not the stockmarket 7. Actually put a stop to immigration, legal and illegal 8. Get the large house builders to build soccial housing, ie: council houses 9. Any business leaders/managment team caught putting their company before the moral duty of looking after its staff (the post office being a prime example) go to jail and are made an example of 10. Replace the house of Lords with a house of people chosen at random like jury service. The opinion of the political classes that the people are to stupid to be allowed to make decisions about their own live's must stop, they are there to represent the people, not their own greedy selfish interests. 11. Nationalise all banks and lend money at a fixed rate of 2% so everyone has access to cheap money and everyone knows where they stand and everyone can plan
It is not Keir Starmer's responsibility alone to rebuild trust in politics. It is the responsibility of all elected politicians to mean what they say and say what they mean and to behave and act in ways that uphold the dignity of elected office. This begins with politicians demonstrating that they serve us, not themselves
Good piece as ever even though I would disagree on many points here. So the solution to disengagement with politics is to have more politicians at a local level all following the same party line taken from the national level. Blaming central government when things go wrong at local level, especially when the other party is in power nationally. I'm not really sure that's the average voter's top issue. The turnout in local elections is generally very poor, so if this is a benchmark for the apitite for more local politics then I'd say there is little. Until people really feel their vote matters they will continue to disengage. There are a whole range of issues where the political class on both sides are out of touch with popular sentiment, you touched on just a few. However to discuss and address these issues would be considered to be pandering to populism. Well I'd imagine in a true democracy politicians as our supposed representatives should at time listen and perhaps consider doing what the majority feel is needed. And ilI think that's the issue in that a majority feel ignored. And the patronising notion that politicians will put themselves in the shoes of ordinary people to view life from their perspective is fanciful. Most politicians on all sides have never and do not live typically lives, most I would suggest have been professional politicians and party members for ever. Interesting how they turn to academics and lifelong top civil servants for advice on this subject. Very representative. Until the two party system is changed, perhaps through a change to the voting system, and a more truly representative voice is heard at the heart of power then I think the chances of reengagement are limited.
Good news for uk people less spending for them they don’t do good for people only harm workers need support they’re luxury life and sams time they can’t feed children
Having seen the Rochdale debacle unfold due to Starmer’s unwavering Zionist obsession as the Witchfinder General of antisemitism I can see him being every bit as inept as Liz Truss.
What's complicated about letting the water companies go bust. Easy. The national infrastructure commission are asleep (as usual,Manchester Bradford rail)
