Awful start for me! Starmer is clueless!
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Awful start for me! Starmer is clueless!
It's a classic case of "bring out your dead", the tories will say every bit of data was available for Labour's scrutiny but not many will believe them. Compared to the pandemic costs this £20bn is a drop in the ocean and could be serviced by long term borrowing, grow the economy & pay down the debt.
So yes - a bad start for me too.
Agree with Matt that, as previous Shadow Chancellor, Reeves must surely have had a good idea at least regarding any "black hole" in the finances of the country and therefore that there is at least a degree of disingenuousness about her subsequent claims. That said, the Tories have hardly been renowned for their honesty and transparency during their time in government and, of course, the OBR have broadly backed her allegations. As posted before, I think the truth lies somewhere in between.
As for Starmer, tin hat time, but I think his speech regarding the recent rioting was pretty reasonable. Genuine concern around immigration has been further stoked by right wing elements who have used social media to stir things up (inc mis- information) and protests hi-jacked by mobile groups who seem more interested in having a ruck than anything else. His analogy with football hooliganism is pretty accurate I reckon.
I listened to the Tommy Robinson interview that Soulman posted the other week which was pretty interesting and one thing he said struck me. He was talking about his younger days and how he got drawn into football hooliganism and compared this with how young Muslim men might be attracted to the of preaching of extremist clerics. This ties in with several theories currently doing the rounds again which is that if young males do not have the right opportunities (economics/education/jobs/housing etc) then they need a way of venting their frustrations/ testosterone. This need for an outlet often attracts them to violence and this is as much a part of them joining either right wing groups or Islamic extremists ones as any real belief in their ideologies which they too easily fall prey to.
Joining gangs, whether criminal, religious, racist or whatever is a way for them to feel they have some power as well as protection. Doubtless their upbringings may also contribute towards their susceptibility for sc rote ish behaviour of course. Nurture/nature and all that.
Regarding the video clip posted. Yes, 3-4 officers bringing down what looked a lone ****ager doesn't look good but 1) this is an acknowledged tactic to restrain someone in order to try and better control the situation and avoid injury and 2) is it no different than the Manchester airport incident? What did this ****ager do in the first place to get himself arrested? Is there other footage to show him behaving just like that Muslim lad for example? You can't claim that the Muslim thug deserved his head being kicked in on one hand and police brutality against the white lad on the other (who didn't get his head stamped on btw) unless you know the full context of both. "2 tier policing" is blatantly wrong-but it can work both ways!