Politics Today

[arthur]

There’s was no ‘decision’, my background is an immutable fact, a bit like ones sex at birth.

So it's an immutable fact that Starmer is a white working class Englishman, just like you? Splendid, you can stop sneeringly referring to his knighthood then...

 

[lamrobhero]

You are conflating the twin issues of identity politics and othering. There is an overlap, I can see, but neither are conducive to a functioning healthy, diverse society.

"I identify as" = how I feel about myself is important and you must pay great attention to it. This is also known as self indulgence and is a sign of western decadence imho

"They're not like us" (e.g foreigners, the metropolitan liberal elite, people who don't behave just like we do) = they are to be feared and excluded if at all possible

When I talked about self-identfication I talked about identity as a consequence of choices arising from dealing with reality. To characterise that as "How I feel about myself" makes no sense to me. It seems like a strawman argument.
A long time ago there was a discussion on this thread about Mr Jenrick trying to tell me what it was to be a UK citizen. These sort of power plays by the right are all over the place its got nothing to do with othering.

 

[tavyred]

So it's an immutable fact that Starmer is a white working class Englishman, just like you? Splendid, you can stop sneeringly referring to his knighthood then...

I don’t know enough about Sir Keith’s background TBH, it was always my understanding that he had a middle class upbringing, happy to be corrected on that. If you can’t sneer at a millionaire lefty knight of the realm living in North London, then who can you sneer at?

 

[arthur]

I don’t know enough about Sir Keith’s background TBH, it was always my understanding that he had a middle class upbringing, happy to be corrected on that. If you can’t sneer at a millionaire lefty knight of the realm living in North London, then who can you sneer at?

His father was a toolmaker in Bermondsey and his mother was a nurse.

As a matter of interest, do you believe in the concept of aspiration - I.e . being born in one class and moving to another?

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

SNP Leadership Election Result:

First Preferences:

Humza Yousaf: 48.2%
Kate Forbes: 40.7%
Ash Regan: 11.1%

2nd Round:
Humza Yousaf: 52.1% (E)
Kate Forbes: 47.9%

 

[Grecian2K]

SNP Leadership Election Result:

First Preferences:

Humza Yousaf: 48.2%
Kate Forbes: 40.7%
Ash Regan: 11.1%

2nd Round:
Humza Yousaf: 52.1% (E)
Kate Forbes: 47.9%

That's a shame.
I'm sure that the election of Pastor Forbes, with her antediluvian social and right wing economic views would have been worth a good number of extra seats for Scottish Labour.

 

[tavyred]

His father was a toolmaker in Bermondsey and his mother was a nurse.

As a matter of interest, do you believe in the concept of aspiration - I.e . being born in one class and moving to another?

Partly yes, although personally speaking if I became wealthy I would still describe myself as working class despite my perhaps mixing in more salubrious circles.
Just done a bit of research on Sir Keith and it has to be said he was extremely lucky (twice) with his education and it was a privileged period of his life. I notice he actually grew up in leafy Surrey (not Bermondsey!) where he passed the 11+ to attend the local grammar, a lucky break when you consider that the ability to elevate yourself about the also rans was denied to millions of others by Labour Party dogma. The Grammar he attended as luck would have it went private in his third year there and the local authority paid his fees until he was 16 when he then got a bursary to pay for his 6th form years.
Attending a fee paying school is a privilege not afforded to most working class kids it has to be said. Good on him though for grasping that opportunity with both hands.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

That's a shame.
I'm sure that the election of Pastor Forbes, with her antediluvian social and right wing economic views would have been worth a good number of extra seats for Scottish Labour.

It was pretty tight..None of the candidates really stood out from the debates i saw.

Forbes resonated with a lot of folk north of the border including with a fair wedge of the SNP membership. Which will have surprised many.

 

[Grecian2K]

If find it quite amusing (albeit somewhat puzzling) that by referring to Mr Starmer as "Sir Keith" the Three Brexiteers on here seem to think it some kind of insult.
Algernon, Giles or Nigel perhaps, but "Keith"???

There are lots of famous and, sometimes, admirable folk with that name.
Messers Moon, Emerson, Relf, Jarrett and Richards were, and are, admirable musicians.
Mr Miller was one of the greatest all-rounders that Australian ever produced.
And, perhaps more to their taste, there were celebrity cook and bon viveur Mr Floyd, and Mr Joseph (the Thatcher's economic guru)

So "Keith" as a derogatory term? I think not! (I will allow them "Cheggers" though)

 

[arthur]

If find it quite amusing (albeit somewhat puzzling) that by referring to Mr Starmer as "Sir Keith" the Three Brexiteers on here seem to think it some kind of insult.
Algernon, Giles or Nigel perhaps, but "Keith"???

There are lots of famous and, sometimes, admirable folk with that name.
Messers Moon, Emerson, Relf, Jarrett and Richards were, and are, admirable musicians.
Mr Miller was one of the greatest all-rounders that Australian ever produced.
And, perhaps more to their taste, there were celebrity cook and bon viveur Mr Floyd, and Mr Joseph (the Thatcher's economic guru)

So "Keith" as a derogatory term? I think not! (I will allow them "Cheggers" though)

You have omitted Sir Gavin Williamson from your list of illustrious knights