It’s difficult to see your point. Starmer has been a catastrophe. Labour has veered to the right. His selection of McSweeney was a disaster. Likewise with Mandelson. He doesn't really deserve to have survived all that. He has been forced into UTurns on key social issues. He pushes on with immigration controls and then, again, he is forced to slow up. He has refused to stop action against Palestine Action (despite being a former human rights lawyer!) and refuses to condemn the US and Israel’s aggressions. Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank and now Lebanon draw little criticism. Israel’s right to defend itself is a catch all justification. Nobody else is allowed that right. Labour is openly Zionist and anyone offering serious criticism is condemned as anti-Semitic. Far from taking a strong position he is giving ground on the war with Iran. The UK defence minister is touring the Gulf states with offers of help. It is hard to see what rights Iran is allowed to defend itself. If it shoots at anything other than a bona fide military target or takes other sensible actions like closing Hormuz it is condemned. What is Iran supposed to do? Wait to be bombed or surrender? Meanwhile its cities are pounded. Now the same in Lebanon. Britain and others act to shoot down missiles fired by Iran but not those aimed at Iran. Of course no-one expects them to do the latter but then that is the fundamental bias in the situation. It is widely reported that Iran offered serious concessions only to be attacked without warning while still negotiating. Starmer offered no comment. Trump threatening to leave NATO will reinforce that tendency. European leaders will be desperate to prevent that happening so there will be more attempts to keep Trump on side. Starmer is stepping up ‘defensive’ action which will simply lead to deeper involvement. Defensive action of this kind is loaded as it actually frees up the aggressors to use more assets to attack Iran. The only European leader taking decisive action on Iran is Sanchez. Labour is going to, and deserves to, lose a lot of council seats. Starmer’s self-interested actions lost Labour their Parliamentary seat to the Greens. Given Starmer and Labour’s inability to tackle the water companies and their sewage stupidity it is hard to see them making serious progress on the tech front. The sooner Labour dumps Starmer the better, for itself and the rest of us.
You say this is Starmer's opportunity to fight. Who do you think he should fight? At present the world seems full of people wanting a fight. Mr. Trump is looking for several as is Mr.Yetanyahu and MrPutin. Mr.Farage also appears to want hostility against lots of immigrants. No doubt Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick would join in. I think what we need is good and strong alliances with for example the EU Mark Carney, Japan Ukraine and the saner Amerucan Democrats who may gain considerable power later this year. I think we are already doing what we can to help Ukraine. Who do you think we should fight?
It's not always about picking enemies for the sake of it (we have enough of that already!), but being willing to take a clear position and act on it. On Iran, that means standing firmly with allies and shared rules in a world where strongman politics is becoming more volatile. On tech, it's being prepared to confront powerful companies.
The point is less about who we “fight”, and more about whether the government is willing to stand for something, and follow it through.
It’s difficult to see your point. Starmer has been a catastrophe. Labour has veered to the right. His selection of McSweeney was a disaster. Likewise with Mandelson. He doesn't really deserve to have survived all that. He has been forced into UTurns on key social issues. He pushes on with immigration controls and then, again, he is forced to slow up. He has refused to stop action against Palestine Action (despite being a former human rights lawyer!) and refuses to condemn the US and Israel’s aggressions. Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank and now Lebanon draw little criticism. Israel’s right to defend itself is a catch all justification. Nobody else is allowed that right. Labour is openly Zionist and anyone offering serious criticism is condemned as anti-Semitic. Far from taking a strong position he is giving ground on the war with Iran. The UK defence minister is touring the Gulf states with offers of help. It is hard to see what rights Iran is allowed to defend itself. If it shoots at anything other than a bona fide military target or takes other sensible actions like closing Hormuz it is condemned. What is Iran supposed to do? Wait to be bombed or surrender? Meanwhile its cities are pounded. Now the same in Lebanon. Britain and others act to shoot down missiles fired by Iran but not those aimed at Iran. Of course no-one expects them to do the latter but then that is the fundamental bias in the situation. It is widely reported that Iran offered serious concessions only to be attacked without warning while still negotiating. Starmer offered no comment. Trump threatening to leave NATO will reinforce that tendency. European leaders will be desperate to prevent that happening so there will be more attempts to keep Trump on side. Starmer is stepping up ‘defensive’ action which will simply lead to deeper involvement. Defensive action of this kind is loaded as it actually frees up the aggressors to use more assets to attack Iran. The only European leader taking decisive action on Iran is Sanchez. Labour is going to, and deserves to, lose a lot of council seats. Starmer’s self-interested actions lost Labour their Parliamentary seat to the Greens. Given Starmer and Labour’s inability to tackle the water companies and their sewage stupidity it is hard to see them making serious progress on the tech front. The sooner Labour dumps Starmer the better, for itself and the rest of us.
You say this is Starmer's opportunity to fight. Who do you think he should fight? At present the world seems full of people wanting a fight. Mr. Trump is looking for several as is Mr.Yetanyahu and MrPutin. Mr.Farage also appears to want hostility against lots of immigrants. No doubt Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick would join in. I think what we need is good and strong alliances with for example the EU Mark Carney, Japan Ukraine and the saner Amerucan Democrats who may gain considerable power later this year. I think we are already doing what we can to help Ukraine. Who do you think we should fight?
It's not always about picking enemies for the sake of it (we have enough of that already!), but being willing to take a clear position and act on it. On Iran, that means standing firmly with allies and shared rules in a world where strongman politics is becoming more volatile. On tech, it's being prepared to confront powerful companies.
The point is less about who we “fight”, and more about whether the government is willing to stand for something, and follow it through.