That Starmer fella...

Starmer was a surprise choice to be DPP, as he was seen as a lefty-lawyer who focused on criminal defence and human rights work, which no-one does for the money.

He's definitely not an establishment figure.

Fair point. I grew up in a council estate in Dagenham, so to me anyone who doesn't put HP Sauce on their toast is effectively blue blooded.

None of the Hancock stories are positive though, and he's just had a big thing break, although I didn't get to 11 when I looked.

It’ll be your algorithms. Read more Hancock get fed more Hancock.

I just find this really confusing. It's the big news story of the day (and generally not a positive story for Hancock or the Conservatives). Should newspapers just ignore it to establish their labour credentials?

How can this possibly be “why Labour will lose”?

Stories revealing the detail of government incompetence (that they will desperately try to spin, divert and delay responding to), particularly when it comes from one of their own, is big news - save your ire for The Mail that’s leading with “Carrie’s heartfelt plea to Dominic Raab” (or not if that’s the really important story).

Hopefully Hancock related drops over the next few days will reveal detail/scale of financial corruption and lining of pockets.

My algorithms show me a lot more hand cock I guess.

Sue Gray has been appointed chief of staff to Labour leader Keir Starmer.
https://twitter.com/joepike/status/1631310391887142912

Can't say I saw that coming.

That doesn't really answer the question though does it? How should the Guardian have covered the biggest news story of the day, which was about Matt Hancock's leaked messages, without mentioning Matt Hancock?

Show me on the doll where Marina touched you....

The Guardian is a mess of sloppy hot take opinion writing, some from the left, some from the centre right. Some of their columnists are genuinely witty and get a lot of page impressions; others come across as a pastiche of the muesli eating hippy caricature often associated with the Guardian. As with most newspapers, it’s a mixed bag, and they’re trying to stay afloat as a business by getting eyeballs on the advertising they run - it was ever thus. This idea that they’re somehow failing some political purity test is delightfully naive Morning Star-level nonsense that ignores the rather humdrum and underwhelming reality of how the newspaper business works.

Sports pages are decent tho.

I, for one, am just glad we have FiveThreeOne here to remind us of our failings and to set an example of what a truly remarkable individual we can all aspire to be

The Guardian doesn't pretend to be a Labour paper. It's there to reflect liberal values. It's the closest we have to a left wing paper given the shift of the overton window to the right, but it's centre left, not socialist worker party left. That isn't - in fact - a criticism. Nor is it incorrect to say that they're the broadsheet most likely to sympathise with Labour values. But it isn't and shouldn't be a fanzine.

BTW if anyone has any truly left wing news sites, feel free to share. Need to give up The Guardian for good.

You might enjoy Skwarkbox and/or The Canary. They seem to crossover with your anti-Starmer/anti-Guardian perspective.

Edit: And both suitably histrionic. You’d like them.

"genuinely witty" - I think you need to read / watch funnier people

Pls do enlighten us.

Broadly I welcome Dave Spart arriving on the forum,
and,
his sensitivity in adopting an appropriate user name.

Most of us on here could produce better versions of most Guardian articles,
but,
we didn't have the soft power enabling that leads to the likes of Marine Hyde becoming a journalist. The Guardian is 'worth it' if only for David Squires of a Tuesday.

BTW if anyone has any truly left wing news sites, feel free to share. Need to give up The Guardian for good.

Novara but they are hugely scathing of Starmer and did cover the Hancock story, so might not work for you

they are hugely scathing of Starmer ... so might not work for you

Our hero is a Burnham fan - he only went to oiky Cambridge so isn't elite, you see.

The Guardian doesn't pretend to be a Labour paper.

But the Tories (and their client press) are always happy to parrot the assertion that it is. "Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati", etc...

Jeez, is this not resolved yet?

Lol.

I love the idea that she is an aristocrat, given that her grandfather was made a hereditary peer in 1964, so her father is the second Baron Dudley-Williams. That lineage goes back a whole ten years before Hyde was born.

I'm not sure I've ever heard snobbery towards someone for only being the third generation of a titled family!

She's in Debrett's... she went to Downe House and Oxford... she's a posho.

You've obviously not met many aristocrats then.

I'm not disputing she has a well off background, but to damn her, as the estate agent did, for being an aristocrat is tenuous.

You've obviously not met many aristocrats then.

I've had many blessings in life... that's one of them

Is now a good time to remember the young Marina Hyde had a
relationship with Piers Morgan.

Latest exhibit in the 'expensive education does not make you shrewd' canon.