4 ms·
And he'll be just as powerless to solve any of the big problems as the last half a dozen PMs.
by bluescrn 4mo ago
And he'll be just as powerless to solve any of the big problems as the last half a dozen PMs.
- rapsey 4mo agoA completely pointless exercise for all involved. Rearranging deck chairs of the titanic that is the labour party.
- stirlo 4mo agoThe issue isn’t the Labour Party it’s the entire country. Brexit has been a disaster, energy costs are through the roof, housing is becoming more costly, and there’s been no real economic growth in a decade. But no one wants suffer the temporary pain to make the reforms needed to change it. They just want to grumble and say the current leader isn’t any good before moving onto the next one, rather than admitting they might need to actually accept some change in the country.
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago> no one wants suffer the temporary pain to make the reforms needed to change it If you could get one bill through Parliament, what would it do?
- Y_Y 4mo agoDisband the UK
- dabeeeenster 4mo agoRejoin the EU, single market, customs union, drop sterling and take the Euro. This would almost certainly start a civil war in the UK (I am not being dramatic) but its what is needed. Brexit was -8% GDP, according to Bank of England.
- PunchyHamster 4mo agoOh, no, we don't want you, keep your mess to yourself instead of making it EU's
- pjc50 4mo agoThis wouldn't start a civil war. Many of the Brexit voters are already dead and most of the rest are retired.
- hn_throw2025 4mo agoLovely comment thread. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the “democrats”…
- pjc50 4mo agohttps://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/2016-leave-majority-has-literally-died-out-polling-expert-reveals-401296/ https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/2016-leave-majori...
- hn_throw2025 4mo agoIf you would cast your mind back ten years, I distinctly remember this bitter and callous attitude at the time. Wanting people who disagree with you to "just die out" is profoundly antidemocratic.
- ulfw 4mo agoYea no will never happen. Only way into the EU is way you described. Full on Schengen, EUR, no more special UK exceptions etc. Will never fly.
- pjc50 4mo agoEEA like Norway would be both a significant improvement, and does not require Euro. I do think we have to get to the point where we can say that actually Schengen was good and we should have been part of it before we get economically overtaken by Poland.
- barrkel 4mo agoRepeal Town and Country Planning Act 1947
- pjc50 4mo agoMost of the real power is in the budget, which is technically a bill, but I would 100% go for "change the voting system". Almost anything except D'Hondt is better than FPTP; for simplicity, we could just copy the Scottish Parliament's use of AMS. I would also insert a trapdoor that future changes to the voting system would require the approval of >50% of eligible voters, including non-voters. Yes, I know Parliament cannot bind its successors and all that, but at least I can make it look bad to change it again. Does this solve any of the immediate problems? No. Does it solve the dysfunctionality since 2008? I think so, especially given that polling these days looks like five parties getting 20% of the vote each. Labour themselves came to power on 38% of the vote.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- rapsey 4mo agoThe grand coalition governments of the EU are not in any way better. They just result in bickering and gridlock because parties that hate each other get stuck in the same room. This is your pet issue, completely based on the grass looking greener on the other side.
- pjc50 4mo agoThe gridlock is real whether it happens inside or outside the party. This is partly why we're here in the first place! Starmer is out because he couldn't do coalition management inside the Labour party.
- gadders 4mo agoHonestly, go back to the Liz Truss plan. She tried to speed run implementation, but policy-wise it was all there.
- rapsey 4mo agoDisagree. Every one of the issues you mentioned is a direct result of labour/tory uniparty ideology. Netzero, endless migrants, insane taxation and so on.
- roenxi 4mo agoThere shouldn't be any temporary pain from bringing energy costs down or letting the economy grow (on a per-capita basis I suppose, politicians do tend to try and cheat with migration). It would be good for everyone, or at worst neutral with wildly rare exceptions who are worse off. Which does make it a bit of a mystery why the UK and a number of other Western polities put up such a determined struggle against the two.
- pjc50 4mo agoPeople are desperate for change! It's just that due to a misinformation fuelled online (and traditional media!) environment, nobody can agree what that is.
- cassianoleal 4mo agoThere is one thing that might be in his power: to stop censoring and arresting people protesting against genocide. Edit: lol thanks HN for the usual downvote! :) I love this place!
- gadders 4mo ago...or any topic really. More people on the right than the left are being jailed for hurty words.
- JumpCrisscross 4mo agoGetting constantly distracted by foreign-policy items 90% of voters barely care about is how the UK wound up in this mess.
- gadders 4mo agoOh agreed. If anyone cares that much travel back to whichever country they support and enlist. Also renounce your British citizenship at the same time.
- gaiagraphia 4mo agoI practically beelined to Ukraine when the war broke out and dedicated a good 2 months to humanitarian work. I've probably achieved more independently than huge organised movements with probable nation state backing. Huge amounts of funding, huge election talking points, hundreds of thousands of people, entire student bodies, propaganda networks, and what quantifiable achievements have been made? It all comes off as a preformative social occasion with 0 goals. Have far more respect for those who put their money where their mouth is and actually joined ISIS than the professional protestor caste.
- gadders 4mo agoI always think of the example of my step-grandad (amongst others) who left the UK to join the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.
- gadders 4mo agoWell Starmer had a massive majority and could have got whatever was needed passed to sort out public finances, but his MPs rebelled (or he chickened out).
- throwaway27448 4mo agoHe was elected to ensure nothing corbyn worked for would succeed, and in that sense he was perfect.
- gadders 4mo agoI think economics would have ensured that nothing Corbyn worked for succeeded.
- throwaway27448 4mo agoWe'll never know, because Britain hasn't pretended to give a shit about its citizens in generations
- tim333 4mo agoThere isn't that easy a fix. Since Brexit "cake and eat it" lies, and "fuck business" deal (both Boris quotes), business has been a bit well, fucked. Hence high debt, poor economy, seven different prime ministers as people thinking sticking a different person in no 10 will make the screwed trade deals and huge debt magically cease to be.
- marysol5 4mo agoAnd were being dealt with quite well by Starmer, but that wasn't good enough somehow
- markus_zhang 4mo agoJust a symptom of late Capitalism. They are all like this one but with different flavor.
- cryo32 4mo agoPeople forget that the government is still mostly the civil service. The thin veneer of politicians over the top doesn't change the operating constraints of the UK unless you can spend a long time on the matter and reshape things slowly. Which was what was happening until this mess. Now it's start again...