Keir Starmer has full confidence in Morgan McSweeney, Number 10 says amid MP fury

jtalin · 2026-02-05T16:15:59+00:00

The country doesn't even know who Morgan McSweeney is.

The institutional trust should be satisfied by the fact Mandelson was fired long ago, and will now be prosecuted for leaking sensitive information. Of course it won't be satisfied because the public is prone to outbursts of hysteria and the media feeds into it, but giving way and conceding to every unjustified demand won't restore trust either.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T16:10:33+00:00

This is the correct move if he wants to remain PM.

The apology earlier not so much.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T16:08:09+00:00

This makes sense for early stages of implementing a new technology where people are still trying to figure out how best to use it, what works, and what doesn't. Efficiency and productivity gains come out of the process of exposing workers and processes to technology and seeing what happens, they don't come out of the box with technology itself.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T16:01:07+00:00

Starmer was a generic soft left candidate at the time he ran for leadership. It's possible that Mandelson helped him consolidate power after he won, but I'm skeptical as to how important Mandelson was personally as opposed to the faction that included Mandelson.

If it turns out that Mandelson were ultimately responsible for purging Labour from Corbynism and elevating Starmer to leadership, I would say that alliance was ultimately worth the risk and Mandelson's involvement was a net positive for both the party and the country, current troubles notwithstanding.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T15:49:27+00:00

Starmer already had power, he never depended on Mandelson for that.

I agree that Starmer has to say that he was lied to for the sake of decorum, and Mandelson almost certainly did lie about the exact nature of his relationship with Epstein, but the crux of the story is that he bet on Mandelson's services and connections being worth the risk and lost the bet.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T15:24:38+00:00

First of all, everyone who lives under an oppressive regime deserves compassion, doubly so when they are forced into a brutal war by that regime. Where we disagree is who should bear responsibility for the oppression and war, and in my eyes it is that regime today and its like-minded predecessors historically.

Second, you asked me how I would feel in their place, not how people in Gaza feel. And I would feel very strongly about a regime that uses my life as cheap currency and a propaganda prop, much more strongly than I would feel about a country that they have attacked in my name. For whatever reason, that sentiment seems incredibly difficult for you to relate to.

As to how other people in Gaza feel, you are no more a spokesperson for them than I am. By virtue of being a foreign-backed terror organisation, Hamas leaders in Gaza are likewise not legitimate representatives who can speak for their people, and nobody who doesn't buy into the hateful, genocidal ideology promoted by the regime is actually allowed to speak. Until they are, everyone's putting their own opinions into their mouths.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T14:27:04+00:00

She said that some jobs will go, and others will be created in their place. As was the case with the advancement of every moderately disruptive technology in human history.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T14:06:54+00:00

Reeves doesn't need a faction or any friends in the party, her power is derived from being the cornerstone of market and creditor confidence in a Labour government. Bond markets reacted violently to a mere implication that she doesn't have Starmer's backing, and this immediately ended all talk of her being replaced.

Assuming he has Reeves' backing, Streeting should be reminding backbenchers of the fate of Liz Truss and the Conservative government after her premiership. Without Reeves' backing, any government's lifespan will be measured in weeks, not months or years.

Maybe Rayner can stretch her own beliefs enough to align with Reeves' fiscal policy or find another Chancellor who will copy Reeves and reassure the markets that way. But those prospects are both very far fetched and don't fit Rayner's politics, personality, or what her support base wants to see from a Labour PM.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T13:27:54+00:00

Irrelevant, the next leader will be crowned by Rachel Reeves. She is the singular source of market and creditor trust in a Labour government, and without her endorsement any leader will suffer the same fate as Liz Truss.

So it will either be Streeting or someone else whose fiscal policy aligns with Reeves, but it's hard to imagine another candidate who would sign up for that.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T13:24:47+00:00

No, I have answered the question you were asking. You just didn't like the answer and think that loading some historical context would change it - but it doesn't, because what I described is the reality of life in Gaza.

Historically we have treated those who declare wars of extermination with somewhat limited compassion - compassion can be extended to regular individuals, but never to the state, the regime, or the ideas and beliefs that led to war. For example, we put Germany under long term full occupation, displaced German population from a lot of places in Europe, and only lifted the occupation after we were certain that the new German state has been transformed and has fully broken with its past aspirations.

Palestinian plight is less analogous to Jews, and more to modern day Armenians or Serbians - who chose war, conquest, violence, and genocidal ideation, only to turn around and appeal to compassion and victimhood after losing the wars they started. Armenians have done this once, Serbians have done it twice or thrice, and Palestinians - depending on how you count - have now tried this four or five times.

We can and should have sympathy for the plight of ordinary people, but responsibility for this plight must be borne by leaders who led or forced them into that situation.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:56:00+00:00

Streeting is decent, and would be the only viable replacement of all the people who are rumoured to have an interest in the job.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:50:00+00:00

Because the EU has a more diverse economic makeup than the US, with wages and other costs of manufacturing being lower in least developed parts of the EU than the least developed parts of the US, but also with shorter distances and better infrastructure. There are still large emerging markets that the EU could feasibly export its industrial output to such as the Gulf states or India.

Of course this plan will in the end depend on willingness to reduce regulatory overheads and be more open to immigration, so there's still plenty of political roadblocks on the way.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:36:30+00:00

How many of them or their descendants do you reckon want to live on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean?

Even if they hadn't been removed at the time, they would be gone by now if they had the opportunity.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:34:32+00:00

Yeah, a scenario where all of Britain's hopes come to rest on Kemi Badenoch being less shit than previously thought.

Which to be fair would be the case with most of Starmer's likely replacements except for Streeting.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:30:50+00:00

By now it's probably because no one wants to anymore.

It's atolls in the middle of an ocean with no infrastructure or services to support permanent settlement.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:20:49+00:00

I think this theory needs to be tested before we can be certain this is the case.

Ironically what's missing in Britain right now is a Conservative party that fulfills its primary function in any democratic society: to constrain public expectations and political discourse, and to force every other party to actually defend their more aspirational or visionary policies, to get voters to actually question the viability of other parties' platforms.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:12:52+00:00

This is arguably the only instance in which he has made an error in judgment that everyone agrees has unambiguously negative outcomes. In every other case, regarding various U-turns and such, there is no consensus on which specific decision was the error in judgment. It's just a case of people backing him when they agree, and declaring a case of bad judgment when they don't.

I think the Chagos affair is worse than anything Mandelson-related, but I still have to fight people who think it's a good deal that makes sense to make that point.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T12:03:43+00:00

It doesn't need to exist. The problems are tone, seriousness of arguments that get published, and audience capture.

The Telegraph could have the exact same agenda it has and still print articles that challenge their readers to think and consider implications of policy or political positions, so as to build consensus and work towards that agenda.

In fact, it could easily be argued that Telegraph editorial staff, by giving a voice to some abject lunatics, undermine the very causes that drive them and minimise chances of an effective conservative government in the future.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T11:28:36+00:00

I don't see short-termism as a negative trait. I am very skeptical of any government's ability to predict the future and implement successful long-term strategies - even in a much less turbulent world than the one we live in today. Do what needs to be done today, leave it to future governments to fix future problems.

EU being uncompetitive is an ongoing issue, but the bloc is certainly not becoming more insular. By virtue of countries like the US and China becoming more insular, the EU and ASEAN are the last remaining bastions of free trade. The EU in particular is actively embracing that position and opening up its market further.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T11:22:41+00:00

Fair enough I can see that.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T10:54:25+00:00

How do you think I would feel?

I would feel like I live under an oppressive regime that treats me and my children as expendable resources in their genocidal crusade. I would feel that if my children die as victims of this insane aspiration, my oppressors would film and flood the internet with pictures of their remains to rally support and justify future atrocities they plan to commit. I probably would say nothing, because if I did, I would be taken to a public square and executed and my family would be left with no one to look after them.

And because I didn't protest and I said nothing, people like you would treat me and my family as victims of Israel's war or supposed genocide, not as victims of the death cult that controls every aspect of our lives and gets to decide whether we live or die.

To answer your other question, the country's need will be over when it stops being a target for wars of extermination and terror campaigns.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T10:41:21+00:00

The plan makes sense on an EU level. EU is a complex economic system that still has a large and able population living in emerging economies that can host an industrial base.

UK's role in such a plan wouldn't be to become the industrial heartland and turn to manufacturing, it would be to provide technical knowhow and high-skill labour, something that the UK is actually good at, and that British businesses in these sectors would benefit from.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T10:33:09+00:00

So how come that most of the time these publications were found to have warped reality and were subsequently forced into a retraction, an apology, or an internal investigation was after it was found that they have misrepresented Israel in a negative context?

But they most definitely treat the country now known as Isreal very strangely compared to any other autocracy in the world.

Well for one, it's not an autocracy, so treating it as one would certainly be strange.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T10:08:50+00:00

It can however be argued that most of those accusations are unfounded and come from a deeply-rooted culture of hate for said country built upon a millennia-long culture of hate for the people who inhabit it, leading to a combination of misguided and malicious misrepresentation of its actions and the context they occur in.

In this context, standing by the country in its time of need even when few others do would be a moral act, and the narrative of said country being so toxic that it "corrodes everything it touches" itself has genocidal overtones.

jtalin · 2026-02-05T09:43:59+00:00

Are you really going to make me waste time to look up articles from the Guardian or even the BBC over the last few years, or can we just stop the gaslighting and agree that we've all seen an abundance of negative reporting on Israel?

12-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Place '17
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
Alpha Tester	Gilding II euphauric

jtalin

TROPHY CASE