Not Meant To Be A Party Political Point...

[Paigntonian]

But Sir Keir Starmer is beginning, to my mind at least, to come across as cardboard, anodyne, unremarkable, everyday and dull.

[Zacs-Master]

For some, maybe. Sad.

[Paigntonian]

There's a bigger thing going on here. With a few exceptions, like New Zealand, we know that voting patterns have metastasized, become unpredictable and, as a result, what used to be called 'the body politic', has become unstable. Farage, Trump, Macron etc. And there's an undercurrent - the Chinese colonizing Africa and the Putin (attempted) manipulation of public opinion through the net and other means. So, somehow, the 'West' needs to address these problems. And I, for one, don't have the answers.

[shoota]

The Commies ARE coming...

[Hopkirk]

I'm not a Labour voter, so I'm not the ideal person to listen to.

However, with the options available I think Sir Keir was by far the best one for Labour to select.

The alternatives just didn't look like PM material at all.

I'm not convinced he is a socialist though, but realised he would have had too much competition if he joined the Tories.

[Paigntonian]

Shoota: Facile.
Hopkirk: You don't have to be a Labour voter to have a view on the Labour Party. It's only the couple of million of us who make a difference in an election. Everyone else sticks to their own allegiance. There's something, and I don't really know what it is, that worries me about Starmer and, when it comes to elections, it's more about feel than substance.

[jim360]

Maybe we could use dull for a change.

[Hopkirk]

Imagine what it would be like with Rebecca Wrong Daily running the shop at the moment.

[ichkeria]

After all who would want a serious sensible and apparently decisive leader at a time like this.
Madness.

[Jackdaw33]

LOL @ NJ's brilliant analysis @ 22.44 of how barristers work. Spot on.

[lankeela]

Talking of superficial I am glad that none of the others won the Labour leadership battle, because all of them seemed to have some sort of speech impediment or an annoying accent that takes away from the message they are trying to portray because I am concentrating on their mouths rather than what is coming out of them. As for SKS Paigntonian you missed one very obvious word - predictable! You just know that he is going to say he was the one who told Boris what to do but was ignored and he had all the answers days before the scientific bods gave Boris the information.

[jim360]

The "scientific bods" didn't give Johnson the information yesterday, though. There have been calls from scientists for weeks that easing the rules over Christmas would be a mistake. Starmer merely picked up on this, Johnson criticised it heavily and lambasted Starmer for "cancelling Christmas", but now has done exactly that and more. In October, scientists called for a "circuit breaker" lockdown, exploiting the half-term break, to try and stop the growth. Starmer picked up on this, Johnson called that stupid, then two weeks later was forced to implement a month-long lockdown.

Starmer has no special scientific vision. He is, however, listening to the scientific analysis far more attentively than Johnson is.

[Bazile]

//Not Meant To Be A Party Political Point...//

Well , what else is it - and what else could it be ?

[ichkeria]

I must say I can’t help feeling that the government has jumped on the “variant” as an excuse for the U-turn, claiming this is new information which strictly speaking it probably isn’t.
It’s already in Australia so any attempt to limit it to the south east of England is doomed.

[naomi24]

Starmer’s sanctimonious prattling after the announcement yesterday made me sick. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

[jim360]

How is that the bigger issue here? The actual leader is failing, and what is more is failing by making the same mistakes over and over again.

[Paigntonian]

Bazile: Sorry if you're struggling with the concept of objectivity. Just giving my views with no political axe to grind. Maybe you might give it a try someday.

[teacake44]

Not a lot of time for either of them, even less for Starmer, His speech was nothing more than dirty tactics, with very little interest or input in helping the present situation. Helping his self more like by hitting below the belt.

[ichkeria]

Boris Johnson sounds like an indecisive leader I’m afraid.
I’m not a huge fan of Foster, Sturgeon or Drakeford but all of them have been more proactive and decisive during this. I’m not wanting to upset people he’s upset most people in the end. It always seemed an odd idea to relax the rules for Xmas and harsh tho it would have been it would have given people time to adjust to it mentally and not to make plans that now have to be unmade.
The home testing plans have the makings of being another fiasco

[jno]

Paigntonian, you think anyone voted for Boris because he had the best hair?

I wish Carrie would explain conditioner to him.

[Paigntonian]

My humble opinion is that Johnson is not up to the job.