General News Thread

[danny.]

4 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

The electorate being less dissatisfied with Truss than Sunak and Starmer proves we don't live in a serious country. 

I guess she went so quickly she had less opportunity to annoy people.
 

She also had some very bad press (I didn’t like her at all, or anything Tory, before I get accused of that) but everything in the press was about the high cost of U.K. gilt yields under her mini-budget - they are higher now under this government and have been for some time, and it’s had very little coverage. 

[CosbehFox]

Just now, danny. said:

I guess she went so quickly she had less opportunity to annoy people.
 

She also had some very bad press (I didn’t like her at all, or anything Tory, before I get accused of that) but everything in the press was about the high cost of U.K. gilt yields under her mini-budget - they are higher now under this government and have been for some time, and it’s had very little coverage. 

Difference is Truss’s impact on the interest rates and subsequently people’s mortgages was huge. I know so many people ****ed over by her 

[danny.]

3 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Difference is Truss’s impact on the interest rates and subsequently people’s mortgages was huge. I know so many people ****ed over by her 

Yup, ours went up £300. Still not down. She was horrendous. 

[Dahnsouff]

5 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Difference is Truss’s impact on the interest rates and subsequently people’s mortgages was huge. I know so many people ****ed over by her 

She is a moron, but lets be clear she exacerbated it significantly even though the rates were already rising. 

[Tommy G]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

She is a moron, but lets be clear she exacerbated it significantly even though the rates were already rising. 

Lets not forget Kwasi Kwarteng, he should take 50% of the blame. 

[Zear0]

And the dangerous people working on Tufton Street who hoodwink people into believes this garbage.

[CosbehFox]

I think that whole situation around Truss' premiership shows the clear disconnect between the people and the politicians. And by defacto the media. I think there's very little acknowledgement of what it did. 

 

Her mini-budget to a good section of households was utterly seismic in terms of everyday life. I struggle to think of more large net negative political movement that ****ed over the working population in one hit. I am not hiding here to say what it's done to my brother has been huge. Effectively saw off very little deposable income for a young family and increased pressures elsewhere.

 

Ironically in the same token, the Labour policy about childcare has helped - example of decent policy rather than its wailing and screaming about things which don't actually affect us too much. 

Edited 1 October 2025 by CosbehFox

[Greg2607]

I think the biggest things to takeout of that poll are firstly (ironically) the Primacy / Recency effect. 

 

All of starmers current mistakes are at the forefront of people's minds, so its much easier to recall being dissatisfied with him than previous PM's. 

 

Secondly... the power of the media. MOST printed media and MOST of X are supporters of the right wing, so the left get infinitely more aggressive bad press than the right do when in government, or even looking like they might make a government. 

 

I'm not saying labour have got most things right... but they aren't anywhere near as bad as the population or the media would have you believe. 

 

The Media knows the Tories are a busted flush.... so they all line up behind Farage as the Anointed one in waiting. 

 

the amount of media coverage that man gets, in relation to the size of his party is astonishing really. 

 

CLEARLY he's an exceptional Orator. Probably the best of his generation and he is also one of the most opportunist. 

 

but even then, that alone can't account for the amount of air time he gets. It's crazy. 

Edited 1 October 2025 by Greg2607

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, danny. said:

In reality though, he tried to means test the winter fuel payment, which actually is fair enough, probably could've been a higher cut off point but they were using the pension credit cut off point to mean zero admin costs.

 

75% of farms sold last year were sold to institutional investors over farmers, which was targeted by inheritance tax. 

 

And he called out people threatening to burn down hotels as far right. 

 

Beyond that, nothing good they've done has been reported and the right wing media has been ridiculous. 

 

He's not done much wrong. The state of the country after the Tories will take a while to fix. What did people expect? 

 

It's utterly crazy he's that disliked, mainly based on the use of social media bots and lies. 

[CornwallFox]

1 hour ago, Greg2607 said:

I think the biggest things to takeout of that poll are firstly (ironically) the Primacy / Recency effect. 

 

All of starmers current mistakes are at the forefront of people's minds, so its much easier to recall being dissatisfied with him than previous PM's. 

 

Secondly... the power of the media. MOST printed media and MOST of X are supporters of the right wing, so the left get infinitely more aggressive bad press than the right do when in government, or even looking like they might make a government. 

 

I'm not saying labour have got most things right... but they aren't anywhere near as bad as the population or the media would have you believe. 

 

The Media knows the Tories are a busted flush.... so they all line up behind Farage as the Anointed one in waiting. 

 

the amount of media coverage that man gets, in relation to the size of his party is astonishing really. 

 

CLEARLY he's an exceptional Orator. Probably the best of his generation and he is also one of the most opportunist. 

 

but even then, that alone can't account for the amount of air time he gets. It's crazy. 

The way the media have sidelined the lib Dems in favour of the grifter farage is appalling and says everything about who owns the media in this country.

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, danny. said:

I guess she went so quickly she had less opportunity to annoy people.
 

She also had some very bad press (I didn’t like her at all, or anything Tory, before I get accused of that) but everything in the press was about the high cost of U.K. gilt yields under her mini-budget - they are higher now under this government and have been for some time, and it’s had very little coverage. 

Difference is the rate of change. 

A slow increase recently is not the same as the spike under Truss, which never really came back down, hence a small increase now being called record.

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

The way the media have sidelined the lib Dems in favour of the grifter farage is appalling and says everything about who owns the media in this country.

 

On 30/09/2025 at 12:11, leicsmac said:

Policymaking in certain areas based on popular opinion (which social media has acted as a force multiplier for rather than really generating it itself) rather than fact is, at the moment,  likely the biggest threat to human civilisation that exists. 

 

It is the reason not enough is being done about the change in the Earth's biosphere (both climate and biodiversity), it's the reason leaders get approval for warfare where countless innocent people suffer and area, and it's the reason why critical issues that affect everyone are not focused on while ones mostly focused on short term self interest dominate. 

 

Adapt, or perish. Darwin had it right. This adaptation isn't totally physical, but it's necessary. And soon. 

Add the old media acting as a force multiplier for this too. 

 

It doesn't end well, even for those self important people who think they're rich and powerful enough to be immune from the consequences. 

[ajthefox]

4 hours ago, danny. said:

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/30/uk/keir-starmer-labour-party-conference-intl

Fair point, my bad. I didn't realise the polling was quite that bad.

 

I maintain that saying he is hated is a very different thing to polling dissatisfaction though.  

[bovril]

Starmer seems to have tried to win over people who aren't going to vote for him anyway and in doing so lost a lot of those who probably would have done at the next election.

[danny.]

35 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

Fair point, my bad. I didn't realise the polling was quite that bad.

 

I maintain that saying he is hated is a very different thing to polling dissatisfaction though.  

I never said he was hated. I said he was the most unpopular PM in history, and backed that up with the Ipsos data. Plenty so hate him though, along with Thatcher, Blair, Truss etc. 

[Zear0]

Not sure he's really the type that deserves hatred. He's definitely more Beckford than Mills. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl1pgr2zn8o

 

Even the Papacy is understanding it. Perhaps it's time for other people who should know better to get it too?

[leicsmac]

WRT Starmer, he's hardly what I'd call my optimal option but on the list of viable PMs based on polling data right now I'd choose him every damn day over the alternatives and I'd be interested in hearing policy arguments beyond just soundbites/immigration one-liners about why anyone else wouldn't. (Davey is a good bloke but he's Home Secretary material, not PM).

 

There's been far too much talk (at least some of it justified) recently about the current government work, and not enough about what an alternate government would do better beyond soundbites and innuendo. 

Edited 1 October 2025 by leicsmac

[Salisbury Fox]

6 hours ago, Sampson said:

Finally Starmer allowing himself to mention the B word again and hammering Farage by pointing out the obvious that the Brexit Farage brought about is the reason we can’t return asylum seekers to other European countries 

I have seen this posted numerous times on here about the Dublin Convention and not just by you and so not trying having a go at you. The evidence shows that it didn’t really stack up when we were in the EU and I would suggest that it certainly wouldn’t now if we had remained.

 

 

[Parafox]

When was the last time there was a decent, honourable, fair, effective, non self serving , well meaning, pro-populace government?

 

Looking back over my voting life of 40 plus years, I really can't think of one.

[leicsmac]

12 minutes ago, Parafox said:

When was the last time there was a decent, honourable, fair, effective, non self serving , well meaning, pro-populace government?

 

Looking back over my voting life of 40 plus years, I really can't think of one.

Not much at all post-1979. 

[Parafox]

49 minutes ago, Parafox said:

When was the last time there was a decent, honourable, fair, effective, non self serving , well meaning, pro-populace government?

 

Looking back over my voting life of 40 plus years, I really can't think of one.

 

36 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Not much at all post-1979. 

 

Possibly Gordon Brown but he got subverted by his own party. He meant well and did some good things but ultimately was undermined as he was politically too middle of the road.

 

Blair to some degree but he too was neither one thing nor the other for Labour voters.

 

Since then it seems to be all down to persona and saying the things the party supporters/voters like to hear without real definitive policies that will be honoured.

 

 

Edited 1 October 2025 by Parafox

[Tommy G]

Interesting programme on BBC 1 about how corrupt the met is 

[CosbehFox]

Israel claiming George Galloway is a Hamas leader 

 

 

 

You couldn’t write it. Well to be fair they have. 
 

A example of the countless misinformation from various parties and interests 

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Interesting programme on BBC 1 about how corrupt the met is 

Good piece of investigative from the Beeb.