Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Jun 25 19 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Keir Starmer is quite baffling. He gives every sign of being a puppet taking orders and following them. His policy is totally incoherent and impossible to understand, except it's the talking points of right wing think tanks and the Tory Press.
1/
Often when a politician holds rigidly, to a set of policies, often it is a sign of some sort of deep ideological beliefs. But this is the thing, Starmer doesn't actually seem to have any coherent principles or beliefs.
2/
This has been much commented on, especially in the lead up to the general election, with both the public and political analysts, struggling to work out what Starmer really stands for, if anything. It's no clearer now. He's dogmatic, but it's not clear why.
3/
Take his position over the EU and Brexit. Since well before the election, since he has been leader, he has been repeating, we must abide by Brexit, there is to be no considering re-joining the EU, the single market etc.
4/
This is baffling, because it was always clear that there would come a point, where the public got fed up with Brexit and there would be growing public opinion in favour of rejoining the EU, or closer ties.
5/
The reason it is utterly baffling, is that Starmer never had any apparent ideological beliefs about this, never had any clear views on it. At first it seemed, maybe focus groups, advisers etc, had said don't talk about it, as it might be unpopular.
6/
However, with public opinion changing in favour of the EU, it makes absolutely no sense he has this dogmatic position, unless Starmer is being controlled by right wing think tanks and Tory Press barons, who demand he not reconsider it.
7/
It is the same with much of Starmer's other positions, where over benefits for the sick and disabled, his unwavering support for Israel, and denial of genocide, refusing to consider nationalizing the water companies.
8/
I can just go on, with his anti-nature policy, the refusal to consider a wealth tax, his wrecking climate policy in favour of fossil fuel industry solutions, his Enoch Powell type speech, clamping down on climate protests and genocide protests.
9/
Starmer is absolutely dogmatic about this stuff, even though it makes him very unpopular. He wants you to believe he's making tough choices for the British people, but most of these dogmatic positions, are not for the good of anyone, but oligarchs.
10/
The only position it all seems to chime with are the themes of right wing think tanks and the talking points of the Tory Press. But this makes no sense, as the right hates Starmer, and he's not winning any respect from them, and he's creating an open goal for Reform.
11/
It only makes sense, if there are powerful people, demanding Starmer stick to unpopular positions, which are driving up support for Reform, whilst at the same time, not winning any approval from the right wing press, or right leaning voters.
12/
Starmer is politically incompetent, and seems devoid of any original thought, or any real moral principles. His rationale, seems to be to suck up to powerful right wing forces like Trump, the Tory Press barons, oligarchs, regardless of the political consequences for Labour.
13/
His latest warmongering stuff, whipping up fear of foreign attacks on British soil, is right in the vein of all the other stuff. This is a theme pushed by the Tory Press, parroting stuff from right wing think tanks.
14/
Let's get this clear, Starmer won this huge majority, because the Tories imploded after making themselves deeply unpopular, essentially pursuing the same policy Starmer is essentially pursuing. It wasn't because of any belief in Starmer.
15/
There is nothing particularly new, original, or controversial about me saying Starmer seems to be a principle free zone, as that is the opinion of most. It is, that he has these dogmatic positions, over everything, whilst having no principles, which is weird.
16/
To conclude, usually, when a politician rigidly and dogmatically sticks to certain policy, it's because they are an ideologue, with very clear beliefs about how things should be. Starmer is the diametric opposite of this, but he is not pragmatic at all.
17/
Most politicians without strong principles, tend to be pragmatic, going along with whatever makes them or their party popular. Yet bafflingly, Starmer is dogmatic, for reasons that are not at all clear. As I say, he acts like a puppet.
18/
@threadreaderapp unroll

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Stephen Barlow

Stephen Barlow Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SteB777

Jun 25
"Billionaires’ wealth surged $6.5tn over past decade, Oxfam reports

Real-terms gains of $33.9tn for world’s richest 1% ‘enough to end annual global poverty 22 times over’"

Just let this sink in. Poverty, is a choice the rich impose on the world.

1/🧵theguardian.com/news/2025/jun/…
Modern shyster politicians (manipulative gaslighters), like the UK PM, Keir Starmer, convince the public with lies, that the vulnerable, such as the sick and disabled have to suffer cuts, because there is no money. What a massive lie.
2/
The very rich pay a fraction of the tax they used to pay. In the 1950s and 1960s, the top tax rate in both the US and the UK, was 95%. Now, billionaires often pay a lower percentage in tax, than nurses. How did this come about?
3/
Read 11 tweets
Jun 25
Just how ironic. After claiming they suspected automated behaviour on my account on Instagram, after appealing they found no breaches of Community Standards.

The irony, is that it is some sort of stupid AI that keeps telling Instagram, that I'm not a human.
1/ Image
Instagram's stupid AI seems incapable of learning from experience. So even though previous appeals, have proved I was a real human being, not breaching Community Standards, it keeps making the same mistake over, and over again.

2/
I'm going to go on a bit of a rant about AI. AI is actually not intelligent at all, it is in fact, very stupid, and always will be. Machine learning is very good at some things, like lots of parallel processes, but it totally lacks human intelligence.
3/
Read 14 tweets
Jun 22
This was just posted by @GretaThunberg on Instagram. I want to totally endorse this, and I want everyone to get behind this, especially if they are influential and have a platform.

It's gone too far. If you don't get behind this, and claim to care, then you're a poseur.
1/🧵 Image
The reason I say everyone who cares, needs to get behind this, is because #GretaThunberg is the clearest voice there is. This is not about getting behind her as a person, she doesn't want fame or adulation. It is getting behind her message.
2/
No more picking and choosing which issues you care about. Either you care about the whole situation, or you don't really care at all. You think your career, your reputation matters more, then you need to learn and to change your attitude.
3/
Read 13 tweets
Jun 22
I'm fucking furious about this, our fascistic leadership, who have totally lost any semblance of a moral compass, are turning our societies into an Orwellian hell.

That this vulnerable, honest young man was arrested like this, makes my blood boil.

1/🧵theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/j…
All my life, I have been defending vulnerable people from bullying, often for just been slightly different, or simply caring in an honest way.

And now the state, and its apparatus, are that vicious bully. WTF is going on? They have totally lost their moral compass.
2/
Any right thinking politician reading about this, knowing about the myriad of things that honest people like this care about, from the climate crisis, to genocide in Gaza, and all the other preventable catastrophes, should be saying, something has gone very wrong.
3/
Read 22 tweets
Jun 20
@ClimateDad77 I keep trying to explain, seeing this in terms of slow decline in food yield/production, is a profound thinking error. Perhaps I better understand this faulty thinking, as an ecologist. What matters most, is food yield in a given year, not the average.

1/threadreaderapp.com/thread/1936012…
@ClimateDad77 What population ecology teaches us, is that the population of a species, does not depend on food availability averages over a long period of time, but specific shortfalls of food in a given year. This can totally collapse the population, even if the average is fine after.
2/
@ClimateDad77 It's the same with our civilization. It doesn't matter what the theoretical food yield is, until the end of the century, if food shortages in a given year, result in societal chaos, and the collapse of our civilization. We live in a free market economy.
3/
Read 10 tweets
Jun 20
@MrMatthewTodd Whilst its true that extreme heat, will impact the old and vulnerable most. It is a profound error to just think this all that will happen. As I keep trying to point out, our civilization could collapse in the near future, because of climate related food shortages.
1/
@MrMatthewTodd It would only take food short supply, not such abundance as usual, not absolute shortages, in one year, due to the climate ducks, lining up, to in a free market system, to create food hyperinflation, and societal chaos and collapse, which could bring the whole system down.
2/
@MrMatthewTodd If that happened, no one would be safe. Billionaires would lose everything, and the collapse of the system would result in possibly billions starving to death over the next few years. The trope that some people would be safe, the rich, the healthy, is absolutely false.
3/
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(