Bye bye Starmer

[MikeHunt]

Fire people because they are bad at their jobs I say.

I don’t recall the last time an mp was fired or quit for poor performance or getting a policy wrong.

[Jobbo]

https://news.sky.com/story/no-10-appoin ... s-13428814

Starmer has had an undeniable septimana horribilis, so I wonder if it’s acceptable for all these oversight omissions to be accepted without his resignation? I actually hoped his authoritarian management persona would work but I can’t escape the fact he has repeatedly ignored, or been unaware, of serious wrongdoing in senior elected officials.. deputy Labour Party leadership contest might be more relevant than we perhaps appreciated..

He’s elected for 5 years. Unlike Boris who lied and cheated, nothing Starmer has done is contrary to any standards. The members of his party who have been accused of wrongdoing have gone.

[IanF]

https://news.sky.com/story/no-10-appoin ... s-13428814

Starmer has had an undeniable septimana horribilis, so I wonder if it’s acceptable for all these oversight omissions to be accepted without his resignation? I actually hoped his authoritarian management persona would work but I can’t escape the fact he has repeatedly ignored, or been unaware, of serious wrongdoing in senior elected officials.. deputy Labour Party leadership contest might be more relevant than we perhaps appreciated..

He’s elected for 5 years. Unlike Boris who lied and cheated, nothing Starmer has done is contrary to any standards. The members of his party who have been accused of wrongdoing have gone.

No, but he has put those people in those positions.. like a football manager on a losing streak; the players may be at fault but it’s usually the boss that goes: with responsibility comes culpability

[Jobbo]

The point is that Starmer isn’t employed, he is elected. The mechanism to remove him is to vote him out next time.

[Rich B]

Yep, from recent history, to get kicked out as PM you have to personally fuck up (with personal gain), and declaring being bought a pair of glasses and taken to the football isn’t really going to do it.

Labours issues so far would barely register on the scale of the blatant con artists of recent governments.

[Mito Man]

Can't believe that the government is still taking advice from Blair... Looks like he gets his digital ID card wish.

[John]

It's hard to believe how far out of touch with the electorate this government are.

[V8Granite]

I think my form might get lost in the post a few times.

Dave!

[Mito Man]

It’s no different to the Porn ban stuff.
Or like lowering a speed limit because someone high on cocaine crashed and died at 90 mph…

[Beany]

Well, just the rumour of that is going down well:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194

The stupid thing is, a national ID system could, in theory, work well and be useful if introduced and maintained for the right reasons, but introducing it "for the children" or "to solve immigration" or "to fight crime" makes me think it'll be an amateur hour populist rush job that'll fall apart immediately and be used for stupid shit - a bit like RIPA (anti terrorism legislation) being abused to track people who don't pick up their dogshit (as you can tell, this is not terrorism).

If they were to explain the primary justification being that it'll make administration easier, that it'll mean less weirdness/more consistently with IDs as we currently have, that it'll be free (which it really should be if it's compulsory) then it'd probably go down better. Some nordic states have such systems (I'm thinking of Sweden specifically), and they aren't particularly viewed as a bad thing, from the swedish people I know personally and work with professionally. But justifying it with "Look over here!" populist bollocks just makes it stink of trying to cover up that they have other plans for it.

I think I've said it before, but the political and PR naivety of this government really is gobsmacking.

[V8Granite]

We do not need more nannying.

Eat this, do that, you can't say this, you can't think like that, oh your opinion is cruel, oh you are too stupid, we will do it for you.

Nope nope nope.

Dave!

[dinny_g]

So long as it doesn't cost the earth, I really couldn't give a tuppenny continental fuck.

A mate of mine sent me this long rambling diatribe video from some "Lawyer" about it all and it was tinfoil hat bollixology of the highest order. 17 mins of him saying why the governments reasons for why this is a good thing aren't sound without giving 1 single reason (cost aside) as to why its a bad thing. (short of saying the Government will sell your data with no evidence or proof)

Beany hit the nail on the head there - Labour's attempts to sell this are a joke and so politically naive it borderlines on negligence.

Every single thing about you is known- you have Zero Privacy anymore and haven't since the advent of the digital age.

The Government know where you live, where you work, how much money you earn, how much savings and investments you have, what car you drive, whether you've ever been caught speeding, every foreign trip you have taken. And if you've ever paid a tax bill or received a tax refund, they know where you bank. They know your medical history, including Mental Health issues and your medicines.

Experian and Equifax know your entire financial history from the moment you turned 18. And since last year, every bank and financial institution can ask for bank statements to see what you spend your money on if you apply for any form of credit. Those Paddy Power account debits could come back to haunt you.

Apple and Google know everywhere you have been since you bought your first GPS smart phone

I don't see how a new government card, combining all data they already hold will make a bit of difference

Worrying about your Personal Information is like standing in a lake in the rain, worrying if your umbrella will keep you dry.

[DeskJockey]

I've said it before, and I will say it again. I don't understand why people get so worked up about an ID card. It will be a net benefit, and simplify a lot of transactions and interactions. Every time I have to figure out three documents, that must be originals, cannot be printed by me, to prove my address/who I am, it is a faff. Want to print your own bank statement, sure, but you must go to the bank to have it certified, otherwise it is invalid.

If done right it could also help prevent fraud. I'm all for it.

[Beany]

I've said it before, and I will say it again. I don't understand why people get so worked up about an ID card. It will be a net benefit, and simplify a lot of transactions and interactions. Every time I have to figure out three documents, that must be originals, cannot be printed by me, to prove my address/who I am, it is a faff. Want to print your own bank statement, sure, but you must go to the bank to have it certified, otherwise it is invalid.

If done right it could also help prevent fraud. I'm all for it.

See, this! My mate in Sweden has a kid, they get a letter from the Govt with their ID number. That's all they need to register for *anything* - childcare, benefits, healthcare registration etc. None of this "You must take three bank statements and a copy of your mothers pap smear" bullshit we have here.

Demonstrate the actual practical benefits and if you have real confidence in it, how that counters the potential privacy downsides. Show a typical day in the life in Sweden of someone applying for a driving license or to rent a house - and not having to go through this fucking rigmarole, and it being a two minute job, not a week of waiting for some fuckwit to send you something in the post or print off a scan of some other third party ID

I need to update my driving license photocard - to do that, as I don't have a passport, I need a copy of my birth certificate. I asked the registrars office up north to send that to me, have they? Have they fuck! An ID card would solve a lot of these fucking stupid, stupid problems.

Sell it as that. Don't sit there and attach it to "populist mong-bait of the week" you absolute fucking imbeciles.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I've said it before, and I will say it again. I don't understand why people get so worked up about an ID card. It will be a net benefit, and simplify a lot of transactions and interactions. Every time I have to figure out three documents, that must be originals, cannot be printed by me, to prove my address/who I am, it is a faff. Want to print your own bank statement, sure, but you must go to the bank to have it certified, otherwise it is invalid.

If done right it could also help prevent fraud. I'm all for it.

See, this! My mate in Sweden has a kid, they get a letter from the Govt with their ID number. That's all they need to register for *anything* - childcare, benefits, healthcare registration etc. None of this "You must take three bank statements and a copy of your mothers pap smear" bullshit we have here.

Demonstrate the actual practical benefits and if you have real confidence in it, how that counters the potential privacy downsides. Show a typical day in the life in Sweden of someone applying for a driving license or to rent a house - and not having to go through this fucking rigmarole, and it being a two minute job, not a week of waiting for some fuckwit to send you something in the post or print off a scan of some other third party ID

I need to update my driving license photocard - to do that, as I don't have a passport, I need a copy of my birth certificate. I asked the registrars office up north to send that to me, have they? Have they fuck! An ID card would solve a lot of these fucking stupid, stupid problems.

Sell it as that. Don't sit there and attach it to "populist mong-bait of the week" you absolute fucking imbeciles.

It's the timing of it as well isn't it? As you say, it's clearly to try to appease some of the voters they are apparently losing to Reform. But it will do sweet FA to solve any immigration related problems.

If anything, it's more likely that this is just another nail that they've provided for their own coffin.

[Simon]

Well, just the rumour of that is going down well:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194

<snip>... track people who don't pick up their dogshit (as you can tell, this is not terrorism).

I've changed my mind. I'm all for the ID card. Fuck those people who don't pick up their dogshit. Send them to Guantanamo.

[Mito Man]

Swedish ID card is very different in scope to what Labour is proposing. In fact it’s kinda the opposite. The Swedish ID card is entirely optional - if you don’t have one life will be like pre internet in terms of anything financial or legal. If you’re a law abiding citizen then it’s all good and convenient.
Obviously the government knows that the gangs don’t care about some ID card so pretending that every working adult has one just to fudge numbers is a waste of time and money and the population isn’t stupid enough to fall for it.

So far all we’ve heard is about the Brit card securing our borders and I read some nonsense about using it to report potholes... That’s a lie plain and simple and a bit of a fuck you to the population.

[Simon]

The problem is that, as said, the ID card 'could' be useful in some situations, but..

a) Don't get a US tech like Palantir to do it and
b) Don't pretend it'll make a dent in the boat crossings, because it won't. It won't make a damn difference. How could it?

[Mito Man]

I think some of these people in government have had a very sheltered life and may genuinely think that requiring an ID card to work will act as a turn off for migration. I guess when this is implemented it will be very hard to find a hand car wash anywhere

[Simon]

Exactly. It's like they've zero exposure or experience of what undocumented migrants do or how they live. Think a digital ID will stop them sharing a single login to uber eats and scooting around Crawley at 35mph on a modified e-bike delivering food, whilst returning to their undeclared cash-in-hand HMO in the evening, using a pay-as-you go mobile phone and 'Wise'ing any spare cash to their family abroad? You think ANY of that is stopped by a digital ID?