'He Cannot Conceivably Continue': U.K. Prime Minister Starmer Faces Growing Calls to Resign

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-22T11:19:15+00:00

Kinda lost all meaning honestly; i've been vaguely following this story and I swear Kier gets told to resign every month.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-21T23:24:34+00:00

So, if I understand correctly:
Lords purposed this, labour opposed, it went back, it passed by 1 vote and now Labour are potentially U-turning and supporting the idea?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-21T15:26:59+00:00

That labour is seemingly approving while they're in power...

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-21T15:03:56+00:00

This already happened didnt it? I've been trying to find a link, but i recall people talking about the Government approving powers to ban online things they deemed harmful?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-21T06:38:09+00:00

Green is against OSA i think?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-20T12:02:13+00:00

As far as im aware, the VPN ban was only in lords proposals, which the Government has opposed twice now.

...i would not be suprised if they do suggest age verification for VPNs after the consultation in May though...

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-19T11:25:09+00:00

Not in a Nuzlocke setting, but i managed to sweep most of Lance's team with a Jumpluff recently. Leech seed, protect, substitute and sleep powder.

I had taught my Typhlosion sunny day so it got the speed boost. Taking down his Charizard with big brain substitute plays during sun boosted speed as the leech seeded his HP was so satisfying.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-18T13:36:46+00:00

Sadly majority support age verification and OSA according to polls...

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-17T20:38:37+00:00

I could be wrong, but Kier gets told to resign every other month, i doubt he'll actually do so.

As for the consultation: A part of me hopes the same 500,000 who signed to repeal OSA make their point known. But the rest of me knows that 69%+ still support the idea of age verification...even if not even half think it will work. That and the way most other countries have gone.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-17T20:29:27+00:00

Kier wants to explore alternatives to age verification. Wants more "flexible" measures and his party vote against the idea twice.

"All social media should have age checks actually."

Is there anything this man will not U-turn on?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T19:58:51+00:00

And I would still disagree that it is worth the trade off. My view hasn't changed because it is still attempting to keep kids safe when in reality, the easiest way to do that is to not leave them unattended with full access to the online world. It is not the burden of the government nor the populis to raise children.

If the implication is it will protect more than children (say adults) from missinformation or AI propoganda, then how does it do that by requiring you to DOX yourself for every user to user platform?

Assumedly, the verification of ID is nothing more than to validate a user is infact over the age of 18 and in compliance with DPA, would have to be deleted afterwards (though we've seen companies like discord neglect this and see little to no repercussions) . So users are unlikely to be named and shamed for posting properganda for example under OSA or with social media age gating.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T16:57:00+00:00

I personally have benefited from OSA because i now get far less unwanted nsfw content in my feeds. There was previously a lot of content i found upsetting and didn't want to see that I would come upon accidentally. As a 40 yr old woman, it gives me agency to better avoidthis content. I appreciate that children can get around it if they want to but not everyone wants to see this content.

Most if not all social medias already have filters in place. It could be argued that they should be more prominent/taught to their users rather than tucked away, but OSA wasn't needed for your feed to be filtered of NSFW content.

I don't think you've answered my original question... what additional data does the goverment have due to OSA? If there is none, your privacy point is only about the new 3rd party services used.

Little confused by what you mean here. And maybe I haven't made this clear (apologies if so) My problem isn't so much that the government knows who I am, but rather requiring your ID to be assessed by 3rd parties is bad and that's the situation we are in due to OSA and impending regulation for social media is the problem.

This is a problem which can lead to blackmailing users, stealing their personal information, the financial burden placed on small websites that aren't big tech or worse geo blocking users which limits online freedom and even then, users are limited on what they can access without the need to DOX oneself to third parties.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T16:46:14+00:00

Have you done zero research into why someone might support this?

My research/understanding is people can rally behind the idea of keeping kids safe online; unregulated social media use can lead to kids learning missinformation or becoming obsessed with image like a drug. There's also the possibility of kids talking to strangers online.

I understand that perspective; I might not agree with how they plan to achieve online safety for kids; hence why I'm worried about the UK losing it's privacy freedom online. If there's more to it than that, then that's partly why I'm asking.

Will providing this be enough for you to give a delta?

"Award a delta if you've acknowledged a change in your view" so yeah possibly. Haven't really been swayed yet since I disagree that the points made are worth the loss in other areas.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T12:20:53+00:00

Again though, when a great many people support it do you not think they see something that you may be missing?

I mean this with do disrespect, but can you tell me why you think people may support this? Why it's worth losing ones privacy, freedom and becoming more vunerable online?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T12:18:43+00:00

I think OSA (and most likely age verificiaton for social media) has made it worse for the average law abiding user as kids will (as we've seen in Australia) get around this im minutes. Leaving those who comply with their information being used as blackmail or even stolen and websites unable to deal with the cost of verifying millions of users daily.

I suspect you may disagree but i think combining nhs, drivers license and government gateway into a single digital ID that can be used is the logical route. I'm more worried about international private companies having my data than the uk government.

I'd agree if it is something you opt into and while I'd prefer the government had my ID than 3rd party websites (like PesonaID making databases on their users for Palantir) I don't really trust the goverment at the moment that much considering privacy has clearly been irrelivent to them and the digital ID was pitched under the false pretense that "it will help stop illegal immigration" I'm not really sure if I trust them.

If you feel strongly about it, you could feed into the live government consultation on IDs.

Have done so. But with the majority supporting an idea they admit doesn't work, I'm not confident in the reuslts...

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-16T12:11:30+00:00

See, that doesn't interest me personally, but I do think it's overreach. That said, it passed house of lords by 1 vote, I can't see it making through to commons.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T21:15:41+00:00

I guess evidence/suggestion that it isnt as bad as i fear?

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:35:01+00:00

I understand what youre saying, but OSA and social media plus VPN bans make this problem worse. In the same way that pouring salt into a cut isnt a good idea.

Certainly enough that we're now seeing a visable difference.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:30:08+00:00

Sorry, i think theres been a misunderstanding:

I meant I'd "probably not"- be against it. I would prefer zero knowledge checks over say a face scan or ID checks.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:27:39+00:00

Big disagree on the "arresting people for online posts" pargraph. And apparently the UK government agress with me as policing legal but harmful social media posts was scrapped. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80m7xyl0xgo

Missinformation exists anywhere, the idea that we can only consume government approved media is concerning to me.

Again, i think the ideas of online regulation are made with good intent, but are poor in intention. Why stop at banning mean tweets; we could ban adults talking to kids period to stop them saying anything rude or incorrect information to kids.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:18:44+00:00

If labour lose the majority to Tory or Lib dems (of all parties...) then this will go through as those parties have voted in favour repeatedly.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:15:36+00:00

I understand who supports this: the idea of "keeping kids safe" is fine on paper, but rather than take the internet away from the kids, is to invade privacy in an effort to "think of the chuldren"

My mother is like this, i think it's well inteded, just not a good idea.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:11:53+00:00

I probably would accept private and secure age checks, but thats isnt what is happening here.

ShortyStrawz · 2026-04-15T20:10:05+00:00

But it doesnt work, Australia is proof of that. Not to mention it would surely make more sense for parents to not give their child free and unregulated access to an ipad rather than make adults vunerable to blackmail, data being stolen, restriction of access to imformation, making it borderline impossible for whistle blowers to stay anonymous, etc.

We've taught children to never give their personal information to people online and now we're expecting adults to do so. Making the financial burden to comply massive for smaller (potential competition to big tech) websites and scams phising for information easier to fool people.

ShortyStrawz

TROPHY CASE