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According to ReekBlefs, he already has.

Missed the tone, but I was being flippant anyway, so would doubtless not have taken any offence.

I think I understand your point, I just don't see how the two facts you rely on for it to work can both be true: a) that the press has given Starmer a free ride because they don't think he's a threat, and b) that the press will eviscerate Starmer because they think he's a threat.

These are not mutually exclusive.

The only people pretending otherwise are those who think we should try what we tried in 2019 to see if it works any better second time around.

LOL

Labour have been very clear about their moral position on this policy, and in terms of their own policies, have announced over 200 non covid related policies since 2019. I simply don't think your position is supported by the evidence.

If they've been that clear about it, why did his spokesman repeatedly refuse to say whether Starmer thought the policy was morally bankrupt yesterday? You appear to think he's been both very clear about Labour's moral position on the policy and also extremely smart in not being clear about Labour's moral position on it. Which is it? I just don't see how the two facts you rely on for it to work can both be true.

"Any other leader would be 20 points ahead."

J. O'Brien. Smart politics understander.

I think you're, perhaps deliberately, missing my point here. So for the avoidance of that again, my point is that the press have largely given Starmer a free ride because they don't believe he'll do anything particularly radical and - as you yourself intimated - he has 'considered' what he says at every turn precisely to avoid antagonising them/giving them any ammunition. My assertion is that won't matter a jot come election time and he'll still be on the receiving end of insane amounts of horseshit from the media, as proven by Beergate. And so he might as well fucking grow a pair and stand for something. Like the status quo positives you list, for example, but also on things as fundamentally batshit and deeply unethical about shipping refugees to camps in Rwanda.

But seriousness of purpose, ethics, and policy are equally important.

So far, he's definitely got the face for the first one, failed dismally with the second and continues to prevaricate on the third. D+

Quite. I think they're wrong. But that appears to be the path they're pursuing.

The problem with trying to form pacts is they can't even keep a pact within their own party, so Christ knows how they'll manage with other parties.

I think Starmer's had an easy ride of it until Beergate, frankly. Principally because he's presenting himself as no danger to the status quo and offering little if any meaningful alternative to the current government beyond perhaps being more professional and 'competent' in carrying out policy. How far that is a winning electoral strategy is anyone's guess; I'm not convinced and by the looks of it, not many of those the current leadership says he needs to win over are either.

That we'll see certain sections of the media engage in the kind of furious, all-guns-blazing front-page horseshit we saw in the previous two elections is, I'm cynical enough to believe, a question of when rather than if. Beergate proved that without a shadow of a doubt. No amount of mealy mouthed non-positions and columns in The Sun are going to change that, sadly. It doesn't follow the press is a hostile rump and the only good strategy is a defensive one. He can engage all he likes, but at some point he's going to have to tell those people who need to hear him what he's about. And so far, he's only succeeded in telling people what he's not.

Of course, his real issue in the coming months is surviving the rumblings and briefings being initiated by 'The Worst People In PoliticsTM'. They've undermined the last three Labour leaders and they're sharpening the knives again.

I do wonder how carefully he's considered the fact those who think the policy is great are not going to vote for him anyway and those who believe he's being weak on it or not taking a strong enough stand against it might find they can't be arsed voting for something they believe is nary a Rizla paper away from what the Tories are offering anyway. Remains to be seen how well the powers that be in Labour have done their sums on this, but I fancy he's not going to be able to rely on everyone who voted Labour in 2o19 and 2017. They may be right in calculating the only people they need to appeal to are so-called Red Wall switchers and that everyone will be so royally pissed off with the Tories by then they'll vote for any alternative, but I'm not so sure.

If beergate tells us anything, it's that the press will go after him anyway and no amount of careful consideration of what works and what does not is going to change that.

Fair point about the trains being fucked everywhere. Worst comes to the worst, one of our lot can drive us in from the sticks as one us won't be drinking. Hope you manage to offload the tickets.

Is there nothing in the immediate area? Like, anywhere in a 40 mile radius (Manchester, Sheffield, etc.) where you could get a train from? I'm staying in Todmorden, but you could try Halifax, Bradford, Oldham, Huddersfield. All within easy reach of Headingley.

Mine too. I switched to Friday and am having to stay with a mate that night.

I'm off to see the Headingley test, assuming the train strike doesn't bollocks it up.

Great decision to put them in first...

Collapse is on...

Thinks it's a T20. 102 off nine overs. Unbelievable hitting.

Bairstow owes the side a big total. Doubt he'll get one, mind.

I'd like to think these reverse mockers had a huge bearing on that milestone.

Stokes is gonna have to retire hurt, isn't he?

Tour de Suisse has finished, so I'm switching back on. Cue collapse.

Gut feeling is they'll eke out another 40 or 50 tomorrow morning and we'll stutter to 150-odd for 4 before trying to shut up shop. May need a rearguard action and a last-wicket stand to save the game.

Not a million miles away from how it's panning out.

Also annoying to see we haven't lost a wicket since I switched off, which means I have to keep it switched off until we lose a wicket and the hoodoo is broken.

And that's numberwang!

Switched off and put the Tour de Suisse on instead.

Bairstow owes the side a big total. Doubt he'll get one, mind.

Collapse is on...

FFS. Crawley's learned nothing.

Interesting start...

Stokes wanted to bounce them out. Also, I think Jimmy's carrying a bit of a hamstring niggle.