[OgsyedIE]

Whilst the value of the pound and NHS backlog did slowly improve under Starmer, my favourite part of his term was the 2024 interview where he described himself as not dreaming or having internal thoughts.

I don't expect huge improvements under Burnham but I hope for at least some police manpower numbers to recover. There have been intermittent stories of planning, FSA and trading standards personnel being threatened by armed gangs in the last few years which is an indicator of some new severe gaps in state capacity.

[pjc50]

The police swerved hard into deploying state capacity against exactly the wrong people: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/12/more-women-arres...

Meanwhile ignoring the actually violent far right to the point that we had arson attacks in Belfast and a stabbing spree killer in Edinburgh.

[AlecSchueler]

> to the point that we had arson attacks in Belfast

Not to argue against the point you're making but these aren't good examples. Policing in both Northern Ireland and Scotland are fully devolved and operate independently of the government in Westminster.

[pjc50]

True. The modern far right is both a social media and traditional media driven phenomenon, internationally, and I don't have great suggestions for dealing with it other than "maybe the government should boycott Twitter before they ban sixteen year olds from it".

[Hikikomori]

The old far right was also media driven with der sturmer.

[black6]

What were the Belfast arson and Edinburgh stabbing in response to?

[bbg2401]

The stabbing spree killer in Edinburgh? How many people were killed?

[mytailorisrich]

Police has no choice but to arrest people who commit a serious criminal offence on purpose and very publicly. It would undermine their credibility and the rule of law not to arrest them.

This is orthogonal with how police should tackle the violence you mention.

Edit in response to @pjc50's replay below:

The signs are a serious criminal offence. Supporting a proscribed terror organisation is a serious criminal offence according to the law and arrest is unavoidable.

Edit 2: What constitutes a "serious criminal offence" is not subjective based on one's personal opinion, it is what the law defines as such...

[pjc50]

> What constitutes a "serious criminal offence" is not subjective based on one's personal opinion, it is what the law defines as such

This was literally a decision Starmer personally made, to put Palestine Action on the proscribed organization list. Without that the signs would not be an offence.

[pjc50]

The attack on Brieze Norton was a serious criminal offence. The signs are not, no matter how much people want to pretend they are to conflate the two issues.

The police always have a choice as to which crimes they investigate. This is why petty theft in London is almost totally ignored.

(and the underlying decision to proscribe Palestine action was, of course, taken by Keir Starmer. It is a significant part of why he is out now.)

(edit war: "the signs are a serious criminal offence" -- this is why the Americans will be laughing at us about freedom of speech when they wake up on this forum.)

I don't see corresponding arrests being deployed against Twitter posters who were supporting the riots in Belfast, including the firebombing of immigrant homes, for example. I guess that's because they're not an organisation with a name, which is the important thing, rather than the actual violence?

[OgsyedIE]

How can this be squared with the decisions to not prosecute burglars, drug dealers, rapists and armed gangs, however? They are all people who commit serious criminal offences on purpose in Britain today without facing arrest.

[Splinter_enth]

Regardless of the rights and wrong policy wise: Starmer was not a people person. I was as big a remainer as you'd ever find, and even I have to admit Boris Johnson could work people. Starmer was so inept in his day to day handling of his fellow humans it's surreal.

My personal favourite (and not the only example, but my own final straw) was his response when a large chunk of his traditional electorate voted for a female Plumber 'who wanted to make work pay for working people' and build 'healthier communities' is worth watching as an example of how to make more people jump ship.

For better or worse I signed up for the Green Party on the spot when I read that.

He was possibly a good backroom manager and well intentioned, but for leadership... no.

[OgsyedIE]

I didn't see that response, was it as bad as when he told his base the door was open and they should leave?

[pjc50]

His Home Secretary telling the voters to fuck off was another good one: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/04/21/shabana-mahm...

(note that the mirror image of this, the Gordon Brown being secretly taped talking about a bigoted woman, was considered career ending!)

[reedf1]

I know you probably didn't mean it that way - but people with aphantasia are often very creative, and visionary despite.

[mmahemoff]

Aphantasia doesn’t preclude having dreams or internal dialogue/thought.

[rapsey]

Well that sure as hell does not describe starmer.

[SirFatty]

"not dreaming or having internal thoughts."

Internal thoughts or internal voice?

[MichaelZuo]

Well the bigger issue is that none of the major parties in the UK have any kind of sensible list of priorities, that they can actually whip the MPs to stick to.

So governance is, at best, semi random…