WOW. Speaking to @theJeremyVine today @Keir_Starmer said quite clearly he personally decided to suspend Jeremy Corbyn. On the day he said he had nothing to do with it, later his team briefed #Newsnight he was merely 'consulted'.
This man has a profound inability to be honest!
. @Keir_Starmer told the BBC it was not his decision to suspend Corbyn on October 30
On the cannabis stuff: Starmer’s pitch was always identikit robo-politics led by focus groups. This was overt.
People who endorsed him should recognise that - and that he will not replicate the manner in which the previous leadership tried to shape the debate. On anything.
Quite bizarre seeing people knock him who went after the last leadership like no tomorrow. This is the Labour Party as it’s been for my entire life, except 2015-19. Whoever succeeds him will be the same.
It was boring & worthy before 2015, with no answers to big problems of the 21st century. And we’re back there again now. Anyone who offered something different would be attacked by very people criticising Starmer now.
What he’s saying is his politics. Surely you knew that?
This is NOT an argument against the BBC, simply that the FCO should fund the World Service, not baristas or care workers who just want to watch the telly. Why should they subsidise our elite’s infatuation with global influence?
Is there any other country where local news gathering is dying but it is seen as vital that, at the same time, news is provided in Pashto, Uzbek and Icelandic?
Says a lot about how Britain sees itself, and how this feeds neglect of major, long-term issues.novaramedia.com/2021/02/18/why…
Looking at how Tory members were able to hold local MPs to account, and in certain instances effectively de-select them over Brexit, and comparing it to goings-on with Labour in Bristol last night, it becomes pretty obvious which party has a greater belief in democracy.
The centre & centre-left have an in-built assumption that they are the good guys, and frequently this manifests itself in a gleeful desire to override democracy because they are right (in a number of instances this powered the 2nd referendum stuff).
It's so unlikeable!
Same elements of centre complain about Tory cronyism & disregard for democracy but to be frank I can't see much difference. It's just highlighted more frequently with Tories because they are better at getting power.
They are the same, just the centre think they are virtuous.
Surprisingly little has changed for Labour under Starmer. In Scotland & Wales it’s standing still while it’s making no inroads with 2019 Tory voters. Importantly, voter preference by age remains hugely polarised.
Full interview here. I found Horton a really informed, accessible guest on the whole topic of Covid.
Horton’s point here a straightforward one. Had Covid 19 emerged in India or much of sub-Saharan Africa the effects would have been much worse. That it happened it China, and East Asia more generally, slowed down spread and allowed a scientifically advanced country to sequence >