frankPodmore

frankPodmore, 8 days ago

Once had a motorist furiously shout, wave and honk his horn at me because he hadn’t checked his mirrors to see that his generous offer involved me cycling directly under the wheels of a bus. I live in London. It was a bright red double-decker. He hadn’t seen it.

frankPodmore, 9 days ago

This worries me, too. They do have some examples of what to do and not to do from other contemporary progressive governments, so I hope they can learn from others’ mistakes.

frankPodmore, 9 days ago

It sounds like a dial tone to me, with a lot of fuzz. Could be a pager, as doctors used to use them a lot.

frankPodmore, 9 days ago

So, he’s saying ‘Scrapping that limit would be expensive and we think there are better ways to spend the money.’

I just don’t think this is a particularly bad position to hold. It might be wrong as a matter of fact, but it doesn’t strike me as wrong morally.

frankPodmore, 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago)

Alright, music nerds, help me out: what was the ‘lost chord’? It wasn’t the one Paul described in the canteen scene!

EDIT: It also wasn’t the Hard Day’s Night chord, or the A Day in the Life (which is just E Major, anyway) chord, which would be the obvious ones.

frankPodmore, 12 days ago

Wes Streeting also ruled out Liz Truss joining.

Interesting question, though: would they accept Humza Yousaf? The people must be told!

frankPodmore, 12 days ago

This is the sunk costs fallacy. If a policy is bad, you scrap it, you don’t stick with it just because it’s there already.

frankPodmore, 12 days ago

True, but they do move money through here, not just people. Plus, the plans include actually working with France and the EU, not just picking arguments to keep the europhobes happy.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

Bizarre day where both Kate Osamor and Natalie Elphicke (re)join the PLP.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago (edited 14 days ago)

This is an utterly bizarre defection. Going to be a lot of consternation in her local CLP if they’re expected to go doorknocking for a prominent Boris Johnson supporter!

EDIT: Per The Guardian, she’s not standing again.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

Apparently not, as she’s not standing again! Says something about how much Sunak’s own MPs hate him that, rather than quietly quitting in a few months, they’re knifing him on the way out by defecting.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

Yes, the principle is ‘Labour governments are good, do things that make Labour governments more likely.’

Think about it: the message Sunak is trying this week is: ‘voting Labour will lead to chaos’. Yet another Tory MP defecting totally undermines that argument, because it paints the Conservatives, not Labour, as being out of control. That’s a win for Labour.

Secondly, what has Labour’s message been since Sunak took power? It’s been: ‘Sunak is weak’. This makes him look weak. Another win.

Sunak is convinced banging on about small boats will save him. A Tory MP quitting because he hasn’t stopped the boats undermines one of the few lines he thinks works. That leaves him with nothing to say, making him again look both out of control and weak.

The downside for Labour is that Natalie Elphicke is clearly a nutter. But, that doesn’t detract from any of the above. Most people have never heard of her. She’s only going to be a Labour MP for a few months. So, overall it’s a win for Labour.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

People have said exactly this about every Labour government, right down to the cliche about the ties. And yet, somehow, despite being Tories, all those LABOUR goverments somehow did a whole load of very Labour things! Amazing!

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

This is nothing but arrogant posturing. Who put you in charge of what the party of the workers should and shouldn’t do?

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

So, your position is… what? That the government should stagger on? That they can be trusted to deal with immigration?

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

You are hearing dog whistles where there are no dog whistles.

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

What is an ‘anti worker view’?

frankPodmore, 14 days ago

My main worry is that she’s just so mad that she might cause trouble for us even in the limited time she’s going to be in the PLP. If I were in Starmer’s shoes, I’d have had her sign some sort of contract promising not to speak to the press, at all, ever.

frankPodmore, 13 days ago

That’s not an anti worker view, it’s a description, either accurate or not, of a few shouty people at a protest.

frankPodmore, 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

Starmer isn’t condoning her message; it’s the other way around. She’s been a critic of the Conservative immigration policy, and now she’s effectively saying ‘Labour’s immigration policy is better’ - which it is. There’s not the slightest hint that Labour’s policy, which is much like what you’ve said you’d like to see, has changed.

frankPodmore, 13 days ago

There you go, some actual facts! Much easier to have a conversation when we talk about those instead of grandstanding, isn’t it?

I don’t agree with her votes on union issues, of course. But now she’s joined the party promising to reverse those, she’s implicitly endorsed reversing them. I assume she voted with the Whip. Maybe she’s changed her mind on that stuff, maybe not; maybe she never believed it and just did what the Whips said. I guess we’ll see if and how her voting record changes now she’s joined Labour.

She’s also campaigned for rent controls, which puts her to the left of current Labour policy. So, where does that leave us? She’s anti-worker but pro-renter? She’s left of some MPs, right of some others, so… just like every MP, then?

frankPodmore, 8 days ago

They’ve since discovered loads more, including more biographical information about Plato! And, possibly, a bit more about purple.