I don’t want to piss on the conga tonight, but we’re kidding ourselves if we think the UK’s problems all vanish with the Tories. In many ways they were just the frontmen who indulged the deeper demons in society. Brexit, covid and wider culture wars brought out an ugly side to people which aren’t neatly defined by age, salary or class. I think there is a complacent view on the left that everything will be ok once the bedblockers leave the building but it’s way more complex than that. The great taboo in British politics is any politician ever confronting the uglier aspects of the national psyche, the xenophobia, the nimbyism, the selfishness, the Brits Abroad mentality… remember that the affluent middle classes only turned on the Tories when they themselves got hit, there was no solidarity with the worst hit. so yes, it’s great, a necessary correction, a long overdue generational change, but (forgive cliche) the honeymoon won’t last long
I’m worried we’re heading into a very dark period (and not just in the UK), something much more like the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
Plus there’s no money to do anything. Anyone in power is basically fucked for the time being. I agree it’s 
time for a change but not holding my breath it’s going to be hugely different tbh.
Dwindling resources and climate change. It’s too late to reverse anything I fear. All the conflicts and movement of people around the world are simply the consequences of geo-political energy wars IMO
Labour govts can always make a difference (biased as I worked for Blair and Brown). Minimum wage, parental leave, right to join a Union, tax credits, almost eliminating rough sleepers, reducing child poverty, equalising age of consent, reducing waiting lists, rebuilding schools etc all made a tangible difference to people’s lives. I find Starmer pretty dull and uninspiring but have no doubt that Labour will do good things overall for the people who most need a Labour govt.
My two were born just over a year apart during the last Labour govt.
I was young (
) and never, ever would have thought of a savings account.
But I started one with the £200 I got from the Govt - junior ISA thingy.
My son was 18 this May and he got a decent savings account when that matured.
Something I never got and would not have planned for. Super grateful to Gordon Brown for that!
Yep, I don’t think anyone with half a functioning brain cell think’s that everything is gonna be fantastic with Labour in power, we just have to get these heartless, piss taking, grasping grifters out of power and take it from there.
yep that’s a good point, the 97 Lab govt had cash to burn and nothing like the number of global crises now which they have ZERO control over. I could see a massive PLP badly splitting over all sorts of foreign policy areas esp in Middle East and any increased militarisation. Immigration across Europe will intensify as areas of global south become uninhabitable - focusing on people smugglers is a smokescreen for what it is a looming emergency
I would forgive Blair and Brown pretty much anything just for Surestart.
i can’t cope with the puritanical side of the left that demands ideological purity.
Agree with every word. I could bore on about Sure Start endlessly but it’s the past and hoping that the future will bring a new version of it (I’m optimistic!)
I’ve been thinking about the dominant form of music for every forth rate DJ doing a night in a local bar or pub. These nights stink and drive out anyone with any taste in music.
Do we have the genre ‘Shit House Music’ ?
It’s cool how people have shifted from using ‘woke’ to dismiss anything vaguely political they disagree with, to now using it to express frustration with anyone mentioning any of the world’s injustices in any context.
If someone uses the term woke i cant take them seriously. Noel Gallagaher has always been a massive twat though and hes just going down the standard route of ageing rocker becoming more right wing and a teeny bit racist as time goes on.
Yeah it’s come to the point where it’s a personal litmus test – if someone uses the term in earnest I simply don’t engage.
Joining the Euro zone would be nonsensical.
I don’t think the relative upsides or downsides would even come into it. Many would be outraged simply because the Euro is “forrin”
There’s probably good arguments for both joining and staying outside but any state that wants to join the EU is required to commit to joining the single currency.
Unless you’re Denmark.
I hope that a change in Government might at least plug the dyke for a while. The last time I visited the UK there were all the signs of a nation getting all the wealth siphoned off shore, and for quite some time. A very depressing thing to see. But the two party traditional system has very plainly failed in creating a sustainable society in the UK.
Which is why, despite believing Brexit was a huge mistake, I am against rejoining.