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frankPodmore

@frankPodmore@slrpnk.net

London-based writer. Often climbing.

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frankPodmore,
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Sunak is still saying ‘second half of the year’. There’s some procedural stuff that I think means he has to give notice six weeks before the date, so in theory it could still be as soon as July.

frankPodmore,
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This is just the first steps. It’s in addition to the existing pledges on climate change!

frankPodmore,
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The situation has changed, so he’s changed his policies to match. Most people recognise that, which is why he’s gone from 20 points behind in the polls to 20 points ahead.

frankPodmore, (edited )
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You’re partly right, of course. Everything is always down to multiple factors.

However, Starmer clearly deserves some credit for Labour’s success (and, I think, some credit for the Tories’ failures). It’s perfectly possible for the Tory vote share to fall and for Labour’s to fall, too, which we saw happen under Corbyn, or for the Tories to have an unpopular leader and to still win because the Labour leader makes themselves even more unpopular (as we also saw under Corbyn and Miliband). Those things aren’t happening now, so Starmer must be doing something right.

frankPodmore, (edited )
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He didn’t cancel all the pledges. This is Tory misinformation that some people have swallowed. Here are the pledges. In fact, looking at the headline of each pledge, he’s still promising the same broad directions for all ten of them.

Some policy details have changed (justifiably, I think). But not completely. For example, under pledge 1, they’ve found other taxes to raise instead of income tax: different policies, same overall goal. Is that a broken pledge? Maybe, but it seems a bit much to say he has not only to to tax the rich but do it in the exact way he promised five years ago lest he be accused of lying.

Others, like pledge 3, on climate justice, are still entirely in place, as are 7, 8 and 10.

Some have changed a lot. I don’t think the foreign policy or immigation stuff really resembles his current policy positions. But I also don’t think he should let himself be dragged down by unpopular positions once their unpopularity is clear.

I don’t personally think that shifting specific policies, but keeping the clear overall direction, is such a big deal. Your mileage may vary, obviously, but we should at least talk about what has actually happened, not repeat Tory propaganda at each other!

frankPodmore,
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Or just stealing Labour’s ideas when they do promise things!

frankPodmore,
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Indeed. Even as someone who’s going to vote Labour pretty much regardless, I do need some actual, y’know, policies from time to time.

frankPodmore,
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Key line from Dave Ward on what these proposals will do:

We need to shift the balance of forces in the world of work back towards working people, that’s the only way you’re going to grow the economy.

frankPodmore,
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Shows what you can achieve when you Labour Together.

frankPodmore,
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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,
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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,
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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,
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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, (edited )
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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,
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Wes Streeting also ruled out Liz Truss joining.

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

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

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

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