Election 2024

[Welshie]

I agree, you certainly can see he's learning on the job for sure, but bloody hell for an ex DPP he is incredibly naive and his decisions are just like....wow lol...all said with a sense of humour rather than criticism.

Keir Starmer makes plenty of mistakes and I think the biggest I have seen is him accepting favours as the PM, even if they seem incredibly innocent, like a free pair of glasses, a handbag for his wife, etc.

They may seem like small, insignifcant favours compared to what we are seeing from Mandleson, who was genuienly giving out inside information like government changes and massive spending bills in return for large sums of cash.

But if you accept a football ticket hat person has something over you - a favour is never a favour in this world and you shouldn't even open yourself up to this bullshit, just pay for **** yourself.

Starmer without saying is not the first PM to do this btw.

I was listening to Rory Stewart and he was saying that MPs are the prime targets for these types of people because MPs compared to bankers, business leaders, etc, are paid poorly, struggle to find employment after leaving Parliament and generally feel job insecurity. A bad election leaves you, if you're lucky, working for the party in some capacity or using a connection for a gig.

So if you have a rich bloke offering you a job on his companies board after you leave parliament, a trip on a private jet and a party where you can make tons of contacts, many of them are tempted to say the least.

System is ****ed tbh.

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

Keir Starmer makes plenty of mistakes and I think the biggest I have seen is him accepting favours as the PM, even if they seem incredibly innocent, like a free pair of glasses, a handbag for his wife, etc.

They may seem like small, insignifcant favours compared to what we are seeing from Mandleson, who was genuienly giving out inside information like government changes and massive spending bills in return for large sums of cash.

But if you accept a football ticket hat person has something over you - a favour is never a favour in this world and you shouldn't even open yourself up to this bullshit, just pay for **** yourself.

Starmer without saying is not the first PM to do this btw.

I was listening to Rory Stewart and he was saying that MPs are the prime targets for these types of people because MPs compared to bankers, business leaders, etc, are paid poorly, struggle to find employment after leaving Parliament and generally feel job insecurity. A bad election leaves you, if you're lucky, working for the party in some capacity or using a connection for a gig.

So if you have a rich bloke offering you a job on his companies board after you leave parliament, a trip on a private jet and a party where you can make tons of contacts, many of them are tempted to say the least.

System is ****ed tbh.

I’m sure due to anti-bribery laws or maybe just the business’ internal rules I’m not allowed to accept a gift above something like £35 in value without getting it approved first.

 

[Welshie]

I’m sure due to anti-bribery laws or maybe just the business’ internal rules I’m not allowed to accept a gift above something like £35 in value without getting it approved first.

My company it's not allowed at all, a bit extreme but theoretically we aren't allowed to accept a coffee.

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

My company it's not allowed at all, a bit extreme but theoretically we aren't allowed to accept a coffee.

I did some mandatory training on it a week ago and have forgotten the detail entirely. If they want to send me on a cruise I’ll risk it probs.

 

[brb]

My company it's not allowed at all, a bit extreme but theoretically we aren't allowed to accept a coffee.

I suppose it depends the business you work in, if you work in the financial sector then you should be declaring all gifts, I think it might be a threshold of £10, but personally I'd declare everything. So I struggle to understand why politicians of all parties don't understand these rules.

I don't have a problem with the Prime Minister accepting a hospitiality ticket for an Arsenal game, it will be declared (or should be), everyone will see him there - it promotes the club he supports, it's an image thing. He's entitled to a day off. If he wants to spend the day with Arsenal than the Mrs and his kids, that's his look out lol.

Yes and I'd include concert tickets in that.

Anyway more seriously, I can't think of anyone that I think is suitable to replace Keir Starmer, I don't want that cock Streeting in charge. I don't really have a view on Burnham, but that aint happening. If Reeves took over it would be a car crash. Thornberry has conducted herself well over this Epstein saga, so someone I normally hate, has got me onside.

So unless Starmer knew something completely outrageous or his name suddenly appears on the Epstein list, I'd prefer the devil I know. He's u-turned on most his policies so the lefties have got him on a chain, and that sort of suits me.

My main gripe aint even migrants at the mo, it's hospitality and small businesses being killed that concerns me. I think we need some flexibility in this minimum wage, maybe based on profits and size, **** knows how you do that though. As well as sorting out business rates, which I think they are...

Just a personal gripe for me, we need to regenerate our High St's, even if it's only at hospitality level, independent shops, rather than having empty units. Local councils need to take more responsibility on this.

I don't mean turning them into ****ing more flats, unless it's flats incorporating business, but that needs some strict rules around it to stop people taking the piss.

We need to be encouraging people to get out more and socialise. Maybe taxing supermarket booze more, might help towards that.

Anyway as you can tell, news is slow today.

 

[Star of David Bardsley]

I suppose it depends the business you work in, if you work in the financial sector then you should be declaring all gifts, I think it might be a threshold of £10, but personally I'd declare everything. So I struggle to understand why politicians of all parties don't understand these rules.

I don't have a problem with the Prime Minister accepting a hospitiality ticket for an Arsenal game, it will be declared (or should be), everyone will see him there - it promotes the club he supports, it's an image thing. He's entitled to a day off. If he wants to spend the day with Arsenal than the Mrs and his kids, that's his look out lol.

Yes and I'd include concert tickets in that.

Anyway more seriously, I can't think of anyone that I think is suitable to replace Keir Starmer, I don't want that cock Streeting in charge. I don't really have a view on Burnham, but that aint happening. If Reeves took over it would be a car crash. Thornberry has conducted herself well over this Epstein saga, so someone I normally hate, has got me onside.

So unless Starmer knew something completely outrageous or his name suddenly appears on the Epstein list, I'd prefer the devil I know. He's u-turned on most his policies so the lefties have got him on a chain, and that sort of suits me.

My main gripe aint even migrants at the mo, it's hospitality and small businesses being killed that concerns me. I think we need some flexibility in this minimum wage, maybe based on profits and size, **** knows how you do that though. As well as sorting out business rates, which I think they are...

Just a personal gripe for me, we need to regenerate our High St's, even if it's only at hospitality level, independent shops, rather than having empty units.

I don't mean turning them into ****ing more flats, unless it's flats incorporating business, but that needs some strict rules around it to stop people taking the piss.

We need to be encouraging people to get out more and socialise. Maybe taxing supermarket booze more, might help towards that.

Anyway as you can tell, news is slow today.

They do declare them I believe - when they don’t they tend to get in a pickle- but it’s not like there’s a board or HR bod deciding what they can and can’t accept.

 

[brb]

Keir Starmer on tv now.

 

[FosseFilberto]

Thus has been an absolute car crash ...

Naked images remained in Epstein files despite outcry

Four images seen by BBC Verify show partially clothed women with their faces and bodies unredacted.

www.bbc.co.uk

Can't help thinking that the DoJ must have come under so much pressure to release stuff that they rushed it ... and that the stuff they have so far withheld must be ****ing kryptonite ...

 

[brb]

Thus has been an absolute car crash ...

Naked images remained in Epstein files despite outcry

Four images seen by BBC Verify show partially clothed women with their faces and bodies unredacted.

www.bbc.co.uk

Can't help thinking that the DoJ must have come under so much pressure to release stuff that they rushed it ... and that the stuff they have so far withheld must be ****ing kryptonite ...

I said earlier in the thread how does anyone go through 3.5M documents, it's just mind boggling. As the Liverpool lad said in reply, AI or some sort of. For me IF it is AI then it's a learning tool, not one that I would personally trust. It give what it thinks is the correct outcomes and information, hence we are seeing the failings in that. I'm sure some stuff I was reading the other day from info I found, I shouldn't have been reading, it was ****ing outrageous, I had to stop reading it was so bad...let's put it this way IF the allegations were true, then Trump needs...I can't say without getting arrested. It was sick. I just wonder if the kryptonite is names that aint come out the bag yet and will cause a melt-down when they do, but that's a simplistic answer and I'd probably like to believe there can't be any worse.

 

[Citizen Kane.]

Keir Starmer makes plenty of mistakes and I think the biggest I have seen is him accepting favours as the PM, even if they seem incredibly innocent, like a free pair of glasses, a handbag for his wife, etc.

They may seem like small, insignifcant favours compared to what we are seeing from Mandleson, who was genuienly giving out inside information like government changes and massive spending bills in return for large sums of cash.

But if you accept a football ticket hat person has something over you - a favour is never a favour in this world and you shouldn't even open yourself up to this bullshit, just pay for **** yourself.

Starmer without saying is not the first PM to do this btw.

I was listening to Rory Stewart and he was saying that MPs are the prime targets for these types of people because MPs compared to bankers, business leaders, etc, are paid poorly, struggle to find employment after leaving Parliament and generally feel job insecurity. A bad election leaves you, if you're lucky, working for the party in some capacity or using a connection for a gig.

So if you have a rich bloke offering you a job on his companies board after you leave parliament, a trip on a private jet and a party where you can make tons of contacts, many of them are tempted to say the least.

System is ****ed tbh.

Spot on.

Democracy is an empty shell of what it once was (if it ever was).

Power and influence go to the highest bidder.

We might not be controlled by shape shifting space lizards, as Aber liked to argue, but we sure as hell aren't controlled by the people we actually elect.

 

[Welshie]

Spot on.

Democracy is an empty shell of what it once was (if it ever was).

Power and influence go to the highest bidder.

We might not be controlled by shape shifting space lizards, as Aber liked to argue, but we sure as hell aren't controlled by the people we actually elect.

What I notice from the Epstein mails is, the elites are the definition of borderless. It doesn't matter if you're a Saudi prince, a Norwegian Princess, a Bulgarian businessman or a British peer, an elite is and elite and they're their own nationality entirely.

All this **** about us being different nationalities etc is just to divide the serfs. The leaders don't give a ****.

 

[Welshie]

Keir Starmer on tv now.

Trump will be shaking his head. You never ever apologise.

You obstruct, you attack, you deny.

That's it.

Silly silly Starmer.

 

[Citizen Kane.]

What I notice from the Epstein mails is, the elites are the definition of borderless. It doesn't matter if you're a Saudi prince, a Norwegian Princess, a Bulgarian businessman or a British peer, an elite is and elite and they're their own nationality entirely.

All this **** about us being different nationalities etc is just to divide the serfs. The leaders don't give a ****.

Of course they don't.

They see individual countries the same way a mining company sees a large slab of rock: Something to be pillaged and exploited for everything it has before leaving it empty of all value and moving on to the next target to plunder.

 

[Archers Road]

Spot on.

Democracy is an empty shell of what it once was (if it ever was).

Power and influence go to the highest bidder.

We might not be controlled by shape shifting space lizards, as Aber liked to argue, but we sure as hell aren't controlled by the people we actually elect.

We elect politicians to protect our interests, supposedly. But we don't actually pay them that well, so when bankers and billionaires start throwing money at them, whose interests are they going to protect?

True story from my short stint as a cab driver for Addison Lee; I picked a bunch of traders up from some building in the City, and drove them to their Christmas shindig at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair. Earwigged their conversation, as you do. At one point they were talking about an African country which had just elected a principled left wing leader, who might make life difficult for the oil companies. One of these guys, with a Saffer accent, said "Don't worry, we're going to stuff his pockets with so much money, he won't be able to pull his trousers up".

Not all politicians are for sale btw, some do have principles. I still believe Starmer does; Mandelson clearly has none, and Starmer should have seen that.

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

Keir Starmer on tv now.

Must be a big ( CRT ) TV !

 

[Welshie]

Of course they don't.

They see individual countries the same way a mining company sees a large slab of rock: Something to be pillaged and exploited for everything it has before leaving it empty of all value and moving on to the next target to plunder.

True, true.

So which one of them are you voting for in a few years?

 

[Citizen Kane.]

We elect politicians to protect our interests, supposedly. But we don't actually pay them that well, so when bankers and billionaires start throwing money at them, whose interests are they going to protect?

True story from my short stint as a cab driver for Addison Lee; I picked a bunch of traders up from some building in the City, and drove them to their Christmas shindig at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair. Earwigged their conversation, as you do. At one point they were talking about an African country which had just elected a principled left wing leader, who might make life difficult for the oil companies. One of these guys, with a Saffer accent, said "Don't worry, we're going to stuff his pockets with so much money, he won't be able to pull his trousers up".

Not all politicians are for sale btw, some do have principles. I still believe Starmer does; Mandelson clearly has none, and Starmer should have seen that.

£94k a year as a basic salary isn't too shabby for generally doing sweet FA apart from immediately before and after an election. That's over twice the national average.

Second, it's an unsolvable problem. Where is the public purse going to get the money to pay MPs wages that are competitive with banker ****ers?

I'd like to see a performance-based system of incentives and bonuses introduced, so that an MP who attends parliamentary sessions, votes, puts in the time and effort to regularly meet and interact with their constituents (all I've had from my MP since he was elected 1.5 years ago was a generic flyer through the letterbox, and I voted for the pillock). These bonuses should be generous enough to de-incentivise relying on envelopes stuffed with cash, but not locked in as an annual rate. So instead of paying all MPs £200k a year, they all get £94k and those who meet their performance targets will receive a bonus of £20k at the end of the year.

 

[Citizen Kane.]

True, true.

So which one of them are you voting for in a few years?

Honestly? Not a clue.

My family have historically always voted Labour. I didn't vote when Corbyn was in charge as the man is as inspiring as a damp flannel. Also didn't vote when Blair/Brown were at the end of their tenure as they'd both completely lost my trust by then (I think we've shared some beef over this).

Reluctantly voted for Starmer but he's proven to be more of the same and what Reeves has done with tuition fees and business rates is disgraceful and a betrayal of core Labour values.

Probably sitting the next one out tbh.

 

[Welshie]

Honestly? Not a clue.

My family have historically always voted Labour. I didn't vote when Corbyn was in charge as the man is as inspiring as a damp flannel. Also didn't vote when Blair/Brown were at the end of their tenure as they'd both completely lost my trust by then (I think we've shared some beef over this).

Reluctantly voted for Starmer but he's proven to be more of the same and what Reeves has done with tuition fees and business rates is disgraceful and a betrayal of core Labour values.

Probably sitting the next one out tbh.

Yeah, understand all that.

My usual default "I'm uninspired" vote goes to the Lib Dems, purely because when they have ran our council and been MPs they've tended to do the best job.

My Labour MP for the past 10 years is a waste of space.

 

[FosseFilberto]

I said earlier in the thread how does anyone go through 3.5M documents, it's just mind boggling. As the Liverpool lad said in reply, AI or some sort of. For me IF it is AI then it's a learning tool, not one that I would personally trust. It give what it thinks is the correct outcomes and information, hence we are seeing the failings in that. I'm sure some stuff I was reading the other day from info I found, I shouldn't have been reading, it was ****ing outrageous, I had to stop reading it was so bad...let's put it this way IF the allegations were true, then Trump needs...I can't say without getting arrested. It was sick. I just wonder if the kryptonite is names that aint come out the bag yet and will cause a melt-down when they do, but that's a simplistic answer and I'd probably like to believe there can't be any worse.

Our kryptonite thoughts align, Lois...

... expecting land, sea and air invasion of Iran imminently!!!!