Looks like his election as leader has got the Daily Mail clutching their pearls Which validates our voting for him

Where's his rally? At the Etihad?

Go get em Zac

Thank f for someone saying what we’re all thinking.

I strongly suspect Polanski will turn out to be a Starmer variant 🦠 www.imdb.com/title/tt0341... The Blair Switch Project (1988)

... because...?

He’s a gem! So glad Mothin Ali got co-Dep with Rachel Millward. The three seem a dream team - each highly capable and genuinely deserving and also broadening the appeal beyond what’s been perceived to be a white, middle class party. Really important.

Absolutely agree!

Hell yes!

greenparty.org.uk/members/inte...

Any chance Starmer will listen to this wise comment? 🙄

I hope Starmer is replaced before the election, if not, have a deranged Reform government

Agree. Starmer might make a good Foreign Secretary but he's a disaster as PM! Problem for Labour is do they have anyone that would make a good PM? ☹️

What makes you think Starmer would be a good Foreign Secretary? Is it his support for Israel's genocide or his utter devotion to Donald Trump?

The idea that Labour have a hope of stopping Reform is a joke. There's far more chance of Reform being upset by the new left-wing parties that the centrists that brought them into being in the first place.

Starmer the arsehole wants to bring in ID Cards for all now, he can piss off with that idea, digital ID Cards, i use a Nokia brick phone, not going to buy a fucking smartphone for him

Same here my Nokia is not APP enabled & I don't intend replacing it!

I hope not

Going by this 50p coin, the Govt used to agree

And who does he admire the most in politics 😂

Good, i voted Green last year because of Starmer, the direction he took Labour with his tough decisions and cuts to welfare

….can he have at least as much telly exposure as the racist Farage ?

Yet another private school educated chap telling the working class how it is.

Much scaremongering on Newsnight saying Greens would crash the economy. Not sure the BBC is aware of the economic effects of climate breakdown.

and now the right wing press/media have their target stand by for the carpet bombing. just hope he can get the young non voters to vote... his best hope is people who don't read the papers...

That's 100% of young people. They are reading social media and Zack has been talking directly to them as well as through THEIR media.

And through hypnosis

www.thesun.co.uk/news/3653523...

Stuff like this would put Boomers off but they were never going to vote Green anyway. His target demographic of young Gen X, millennials and Zoomers will most likely not care or at least realise getting the Greens in outweighs one thing one guy did years ago

I hate to tell you this but don’t think just bcs Gen X and zoomed are young they’ll not turn to the right.

Considering millennials have taken over as the largest workforce from 2016, and are categorically not leaning Right as they 'should' be compared to Boomers and X. I'd say the Right is ripe for a downfall in either 2029 or 2034 as sh÷_ gets worse. Young white men however, are defo turning Right.

Young is code for educated.

That is a factor but it is a myth that people get more conservative and right wing as they age. Social attitudes are set during late adolescence and early adulthood and don't change much later. Society becomes liberal faster than people adapt, giving the impression that people get more conservative.

There's also the fact that richer people live longer than poorer people because they're wealthy. And richer people are on the whole, more likely to be Tory voters than Labour voters.

Richer ppl are also more educated and more likely to vote. But the right wing are not necessarily the older wealthy ppl, they are more likely to be the ones from poorer backgrounds.

Really? Has society been getting *more* liberal over the last 10 years?!

I think so. That is what the culture wars are about - reactionary gammons melting down over liberal social attitudes.

I disagree. Ppl acquire wealth as they get older and are hence less willing to risk or share it. Younger ppl have no wealth and hence are more willing to ‘share’ bcs it carries less risk. I’ve watched it happen many times.

Young get older and their priorities change

I'm 75. I'm still the radical ar5€hole I was at 18.

Some of us remain outliers

This country elected Boris Johnson.

and David Cameron ....and ... Keir Starmer....you really know how to pick 'em

Apparently he's "hard left".

🤣

The Sun 🤣🤣🤣

And aren't sentient.

...your average Express or Sun reader is barely sentient!!

Zack Polanski and his ilk need to be the future of British politics, due to how disappointing Labour under Starmer is.

This sounds lke a last ditch attempt to pretend there is some battery alternative to hydrogen and CCS

I’m not sure what the impetus is, other than worship of Jeremy Corbyn, to create another left wing party when we have a perfectly serviceable one in the Green Party. Anyone disillusioned with Labour - including their MPs - should look to the Greens.

Are they even a party? Seems to be more of a pro-Gaza pressure group *which lest we forget JC wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of leading

By “pro-Gaza” you presumably mean anti-genocide… right?

If you like

Not sure what you’re attempting to imply… you’re sounding a bit holocaust denial or are you swinging fully into the pro-genocide camp…?

You’re a loony

Whereas being blithely dismissive about the relevance of genocide is an excellent bellwether of sanity…

Hoping he can stay ahead of our media oligarchs and then do something meaningful : shame Polanski has also gone quiet on Brexit but here's hoping

Zack Polanski wants the UK to quit NATO. That puts him on the side of Russia. There can be no progressive alliance to resist Farage if he continues to hold such a stance. bsky.app/profile/nick...

He wants out because you NAFO cunts post so much cringe

Why have you included two pictures of what "stop the war" was doing? Is there a connection there I don't know about?

Do you think Labour are progressive?

It's all relative isn't it?

Do you think the people currently running an Enoch Powell wet dream are progressive?

Relative to Reform or Conservative, obviously yes by any agreed definitions of the term.

No. In fact, they are explicitly TO THE RIGHT of Reform. www.scenemag.co.uk/labour-mp-la...

And what exactly is 'progressive' about proscribing anti-genocide protestors, creating a new Section 28 and legally creating trans apartheid?

Furthermore, members of this Labour government brag about being more effective conservatives than the Tories. x.com/breeallegret...

You want our foreign policy to be aligned with the US. That puts you on the side of Trump. Atlanticism is dead as long as Trump is in power

What you just said makes zero sense.

I don’t think you’re aware of what Polanski actually said. Do you want me to provide you with it?

What did he say.

Pretty much the same as what Merz said: bsky.app/profile/greg...

Whilst there is a reasonable question as to whether Tump works for Putin then NATO has been neutered. What Zack is saying is that a new alliance must be formed to counter Putin. Is that so unreasonable?

It's naive at best, and when combined with speaking on an STW platform and being recommended as a good guy by Corbyn, it becomes downright creepy. Thus far, Trump hasn't destroyed NATO, and he has forced the Europeans to up their defence spending.

north atlantic fuckheads organisation

Keir Starmer is a racist. I’d rather vote for Polanski, who isn’t a racist who pushes the disabled into poverty

Racism would be bad for one group of people but leaving NATO would be even worse and bad for everyone.

The "one group of people" meaning "anyone that isn't white". The group that consists of the vast majority of the people on Earth

Not sure how tbh. The US leads NATO and Trump is currently in bed with Putin. European countries are disengaging from the US, and their militaries will do the same.

Yes but you would never dream of leaving NATO just because of the current US president…whom is a temporary occurrence versus NATO which has been around for decades! Just wait until the next one.

Hi, me again—you ignored me before, funny that—regarding ‘Never dream of leaving NATO because of current President’, what do you know that the current Chancellor of Germany doesn’t?

You understand that when the Head of Government of the largest economy in Europe talks about achieving ‘real independence from the USA’ that that necessarily includes NATO and a leader of that import doesn’t say stuff like that for shits and giggles? It was pretty big news.

EU countries are scrambling to find alternatives to US technology too.

And Vice President JD Vance as well as the ascendant far-right wing of the GOP represented by the Claremont Institute and Heritage Foundation are both deeply isolationist and hostile to America footing the bill for global security interests, so the idea this issue is ‘one and done’ is juvenile.

Europe can, and should develop a fully independent defence capability, but that can be done while remaining in NATO. It means having a NATO which can operate in the European sphere without US participation.

There is nothing that either Polanski or Friedrich Merz said that is in contravention with that sentiment unless what is more important to you is said arrangement being called NATO as opposed to the substance of the security arrangement agreed therein.

So you agree with Polanski in principle then, just not on semantics

Where does Polanski talk about a European equivalent of NATO?

“We clearly need to be making sure that our policy is meeting the moment,” If you want to be super uncharitable you can interpret that as him suggesting no security arrangements whatsoever would meet the moment, but I think that would be so uncharitable as to be not serious.

It’s pretty implicit unless you take the worst faith interpretation of his words possible

zack just did an interview with channel four news where he talks about his position on nato youtu.be/1KsgxOrgbOA scroll to 26min

The Greens are traditionally terrible on NATO. An easy target unless they change.

That's what Europe is doing currently, just as they're trying to detach themselves form US tech, with both initiatives being driven by security concerns about the US. It's no longer contentious to talk about leaving NATO.

"Leaving NATO" and "developing an alternative just in case" are very very different things. The first one is a dangerous idea to just be bandying about without talking about a strong alternative.

Which he does, in the statement, when he talks about ‘clearly [needing] to be making sure that our policy is meeting the moment.’

The NATO-forever faction will never accept any alternative to NATO regardless, but the fact that European leaders are considering this is a major shift.

Merz is clearly desperate to preserve NATO based on what he said a couple of days ago.

And when he says, “If we hadn’t done X it would have disintegrated that day,” he’s indicating how delicate the balance of maintaining it right now is – which raises imminent questions about its long term efficacy, however necessary right now. Both things can be true.

Yes, because he believes it’s vital. A unilateral policy to leave NATO is foolish. That does not preclude other military alliances. Polanski appears to be the only leader advocating for trans rights, which makes the Greens a strong choice, but this makes me pause.

Fortunately a ‘unilateral policy’ is not even remotely close to what Polanski advocated for literally yesterday, and when pressed on it provided an answer that both engaged with the immediate security concerns of today while asking pertinent questions about the future of European security interests.

Corbyn's done it three times in the last fortnight. Sultana's done the same.

I see what you're saying however their positions are very different. Polanski is much more absolute on the idea that "we must leave NATO" and I do not see him talking about a European alliance. Instead he talks about "forming new international alliances based on “peace”" which is nonsense.

bsky.app/profile/chur...

No it isn’t, because Polanski affirms that the party he now leads voted to remain in NATO and reform it from within while expressing personal doubts. Friedrich Merz, as Head of Government of Germany, is duty-bound to operate within NATO while trying to reform it from within, while expressing doubts.

Let the "Polanski wants to leave NATO" whack-a-mole begin!

It certainly has been around for decades! So many decades in fact that one of it's founding members was an OG fascist state that only became democratic in the middle '70s.

That's before we get onto the fascist terrorist cells that NATO set up across Europe...

European leaders are seriously looking at ways to reduce their reliance on the US for both tech and military. Leaving NATO wouldn't be the end of the world.

Leaving NATO being worse than overt racism is such a Labour brained line of argument I have to commend you. That would also be the NATO certain European leaders are actively tying to find an alternative to.

That's his opinion, I don't think it's Green Party policy

Well…as he is the actual leader and was voted in with knowledge of those views…it kind of reflects on the party even more so than it did when he was a deputy.

Do any of you want to explain the difference between Polanski’s comments and Friedrich Merz’s or are you all just going to wave ‘NATO’ around like a Shibboleth that neatly ties up more complex security discussions lol

Like you all keep holding up NATO as this totem of guaranteed security when Europe’s most powerful economy has said it can’t be relied on, its main military backer is repeatedly trying to disentangle from it and Norway is now buying ships from the U.K. because it doesn’t trust them.

And before you all make this about Trump, may I remind you of the leaked signal chat in which is VP expressed resentment at the US being mobilised to defend Suez Canal shipping routes when it was not a large concern for US trade. This problem is not going away. Sorry.

This policy worries me, as does his talk of leftist populism.

To the extent he has a ‘policy’ vis-a-vis NATO, it largely mirrors the statements made by German chancellor Merz earlier in the year; that the US is no longer a reliable partner for European security and that Europe needs to begin pursuing an alternative arrangement. Which is just realism.

I’m sympathetic to concerns about European security but the cold hard reality is that if NATO was the catch-all guarantee of security it’s sold as, we wouldn’t have just had eight European leaders flying to Washington to sit opposite their largest partner while he slunk off to check in with Vlad!

It sounds like the pro-Russian Corbynists have found a new home in the Green Party.

Yes, I thought at first it was more 'Stop the war nonsense' but it is more looking towards a Europe version of NATO. The Ukrainians think the last country to leave NATO will be 🇬🇧, due to the 🇺🇸 relationship. Meanwhile, Europe has nothing, 🇺🇸 is not reliable and Putin is going to test Article 5. 🫣

europe has plenty though, look at all the arms manufacturers here and ramping up daily why talk us down ... US under trump is more than unreliable but a traitor BTW

I hope that's the case, but he has turned up to STW rallies, apparently.

I hope that is the case aswell. 🤞🫣 The MOD think Putin will test Article 5 in the next five years, probably via Svalbard island or Estonia and nobody trusts the Yanks. 🙁

All the more reason to crush Putin in Ukraine.

I got all of this information from the daily Telegraph podcast on Ukraine. It is really stange how The Telegraph are batshit crazy on most things but very good on Ukraine. 🙃🤷‍♂️ Ukraine: The Latest podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/u...

Surprised, as I always thought that they were Russia boosters (business-wise, at least).

There never were any pro-Russian Corbyn supporters; that's just how centrists chose to describe left-wingers who dared to mention that the war in Ukraine was a proxy war brought on by decades of American interference. I've got news about the centrists' antisemitism claims too if you're interested?

bsky.app/profile/greg...

This is an incredibly embarrassing thing to post.

We must vote for parties that want NATO. The ones that • plunged thousands into poverty and continue to do so. • demonised & ostracised trans, migrants, the disabled, benefit claimants and so many more • allow profiteering, pollution & the trashing of the environment NATO is far more important🤪

Tell that to the Ukrainians. Without NATO, all our democracy, freedom, and human rights will be just waiting to be crushed by brute military force or the threat of such force. The world is becoming a very dangerous place, and we have been complacent for far too long.

Your continued objective support for Trump is a form of that complacency. Although if you're going to play the "Tell that to the..." card I suggest you talk to some Kurds about how trusting the US turned out.

Supporting Ukraine is not contingent on being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which is led by a Trump administration that really is on Putin’s side

It is if you want it to be successful

You think our democracy, freedoms and human rights aren’t already being crushed? You’re not poor, trans, disabled or a migrant, an independent journalist, a political activist or any one of the groups that are having their rights and freedoms removed are you?

Even if the world order weren’t at stake (which it very much is, btw - I still haven’t found a better explanation than the one Jay gives in the first two minutes of this video), don’t you think Ukraine should receive some (mil.) help? And isn’t NATO a useful tool for that? bsky.app/profile/jayi...

I don’t understand why Ukraine deserve help when other countries don’t? What makes it so special? And don’t say because Russia will eventually invade us all because that is crap

The telling difference is the response to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine V the response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Exactly my thoughts George

you think we better let the "Russian world" arrive everywhere on account of the "Gaza world" having arrived in Gaza (yes, the photos are identical)?

I’m not suggesting cause. Israel invaded Gaza we support Israel Russia invade Ukraine we support Ukraine. There a world of hypocrisy there.

You really think the ‘Russian world’ is going to arrive everywhere?

Of course, they will never invade "us all" at once. If they win in Ukraine, they will pick another country. Say - Estonia. People like you will start saying "why help Estonia? who does it deserve help when other countries don't? What makes it so special?". And then another country. And another.

People like me? Interesting

If you ask now "why Ukraine?", you will also ask "why Estonia" ("why Latvia, why Poland, why Moldova") etc.

The other thing is that Russia is attacking us from within. Russia didn't promote Farage for no reason. The more powerful Russia becomes the more it will seek to control our politics. It wants Western Europe turned into a nasty web of pro-Russian fascist states.

That’s not what I asked. I will rephrase. Why does Ukraine get support because of the Russian invasion, while Israel also gets support while invading (and worse) Palestine?

You wrote this, but you don't seem to care about people being killed, raped, maimed, tortured and terrorised by Russia? I will guess that you do care, quite rightly, about the people of Gaza. bsky.app/profile/sylv...

Now you are being ridiculous. I know more about the affects of war better than you and your Ukraine list could ever know. You didn’t take notice of the post where I say I work with refugees and asylum seekers from all countries.

Yeah, we shouldn't care about other people suffering invasion and occupation. We're all safe in our cosy little island. People thought that during most of the 1930s. We know how that ended.

Yeah because that’s exactly what I said. Actually no, it isn’t, that’s just how you have interpreted it to justify yourself.

Ukraine isn't a member of NATO, and the most powerful member of NATO is currently run by a fascist who intends to unilaterally hand parts of Ukraine to Putin. So maybe NATO isn't the answer.

Maybe a united EU army would be better. Especially as USA can't be trusted at the moment.

Interesting times, because Polanski’s leadership of the Green Party E&W coincides with Reform UK losing the support of Musk. Last week, Musk shifted allegiance and the X algorithm to Advance UK and Tommy Robinson, whose posts now have greater reach than those of Nigel Farage as a direct result.

You mean that little prick Ben Habib, who said drown migrants, he is a joke

Yes, Ben Habib set up Advance UK. Musk has posted encouraging people to join.

Good!

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social is this from the Guardian?

Yep, will seriously consider greens or libs at the next GE, no way I can vote for Labour right now. Problem is that choice probably gets me a reform MP and repeated across the country gets us a reform government.

Well, given the way Starmer is doing exactly what Reform would have done anyway, we already have a Reform government in all but name.

They want to dismantle the NHS and labour want to preserve it Nonsense

All Starmer's Tory Reserves want to do with the NHS is fatten it up a bit, so they can make a bigger profit from selling it off to their chums.

On the contrary they want to improve it with what little economic headroom they have And the comparison with reform is still garbage

You trust Wes Streeting with NHS? The creepy bleeder is a full on neo lib. Continuing its stealth privatisation.

Yes, I trust him. I will certainly give them the chance of a full parliament to make the NHS better, even with the difficult economic situation they have inherited And the comparison with reform is still mendacious

He threw my transgender friends under the bus. As far as I am concerned, he is written off, and that's that.

Amen to that!

Good luck with reform or the Tories. They will do so much worse

Good luck with accusing people of political affiliations they don't have, and wouldn't have for a fcuking gold clock. Muted.

You spout the official Labour Party line rather too well.

I'm a lib dem, so guess you're off the mark. I voted tactically for labour to rid us of the Tories and I'll vote tactically again to keep out reform And the comparison with reform shows you to be a russian bot

Bullshit. LibDems don't do tactical voting, as a matter of principle.

I think we may have to accept that the next UK government has a (small) Reform majority. However, if Labour are the next largest Party, we WILL have a working majority 'Reform lite' set of policies!?!

Here's a blueprint for how best to approach this conundrum (pinched from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social ) : www.monbiot.com/2025/06/03/f...

Nah the labour MPs stay on their transphobic sinking ship, they deserve to rot for abandoning minorities. The last thing the rest need is for neo lib morally absent ghouls to infiltrate more lefter wing parties than them. They can join Corbyn's party since they are already courting bigots.

Do you really think it can work? People seemed much more galvanised against the tories, than they do against labour, right now.

Worth a try. Getting members of the community to talk/consult each other can only be a good thing and should be embraced within properly functioning civil society/democracy at a local level.

Tactical voting sites performed incredibly well at ousting Tories at last general election. There will be avoid Reform sites all over the internet.

You don’t like this?

The bits about borders and prisons, especially not. Weird how you’re not proudly boasting about Labour’s war on trans people and the disabled.

Eh?

Labour is presiding over the removal of healthcare from trans children, and the removal of rights from all trans people. The government is attempting to remove benefits from hundreds of thousands of disabled people.

Absolute rubbish

What did you say elsewhere in this thread? “People need to do some digging for themselves.” Maybe take your own advice.

Parts 1 and 2 are nothing-burgers in the scale of things with that amount of money. 3 I absolutely don't want and it's only appealing to gammons who shouldn't be voting Labour.

Same for Point 4

I’ll never convince a Tory. 🤷‍♂️

Oh my god you can call people who don't want immigration controls wimps or traitors or economically shortsighted but calling us Tories is just not even wrong

Stop supporting genocide you anti-immigrant racist prick.

Its good, but much of it is "we will be" and "we have plans to" , which were Tory specialities, along with cherry picking - "over the period X to Y, channel crossings were low", We all know they're at a record high annually.

4 more years. ✊👍

Let's see how many come true.

I’m content with the direction of travel.

Yep, 5 dawn raid arrests today and probably lengthy sentences for arranging peaceful protests this weekend. "Terrorism" indeed. Lovely direction. It's all going to plan; Margaret Attwood style.

Some of the things Yvette Cooper has been saying lately are tantamount to fascism. Quite honestly, we may as well have Reform. They couldn't be much worse.

Yep, I like it all. But this immigrant stuff is beyond the pale. The refusal to call out Farage and the right is absolutely unacceptable. The only political parties I see doing it are the greens and libs. oh, and the snp.

Agreed. How does it feel for Starmer, I wonder, to be lumped in the Farage, Badenoch camp on demonising migrants, with LD, Green and SNP in the other camp? Labour is the party that was formed to fight this sort of nonsense, not support it.

He fucking loves it. All going to plan.

Irksome isn’t it?

People need to do some digging for themselves, media and the BBC won’t blow Labour’s trumpet

I'm aware of most of that, but people shouldn't have to digging. Labour need to be better at publicising the good that they are doing. They also need to grow a backbone and kick Farage and his cronies into touch.

Labour and all the sensible moderates need to walk slowly into the sunset. FPTP is a bipartite system that only works with left-wing and right-wing opponents, and filling Parliament full of multicoloured centrists broke the system.

Agree. Can forgive the blunders - lessons learned, hopefully.

I wonder why Labour find it difficult to get their message out there🙄

The same with the #libdems being excluded!!

Agreed, the media is stacked against them, but they have social media accounts. They should use them to post something positive, not shout about how cruel they are being to immigrants. They have my email address, why not send me a newsletter every month. If I can think of the things, why can't they?

I get loads of emails from national, regional and local labour groups 🤷‍♂️

Well, I don't 🤷‍♂️ I still think they can (and must) do more. The number people who tell me they've done nothing is concerning. Worse than that lots of people have the perception the only things they've done are robbed pensioners and disabled of benefits.

The press and media are doing a number, they simply hate having a Labour government, I mean , all of them are state educated.

Why does the UK Government not clear out the pro-Brexit nest of snakes that have been running the BBC?

Lisa Nandy has been my big disappointment for Labour. Glastonbury and the BBC’s Israeli bias were a gift to clear out the stables at the BBC.

Let’s see him turn his outrage on Farage.

Farage isn't in government. The racist tory Starmer is in government. Labour is the party who is attacking minorities, wrecking the environment and promoting genocide.

He already did. Explicitly called him a racist. But unlike Spineless Starmer, he isn't trying to court the reform vote.

He did - in the same interview/speech - it's just not in headline

He will when the BBC agrees to interview them together. Farage and Polanski going head to head 😂

That’s a must see

A left wing populist against a right wing populist. May the best populist win 😂 (while the grown-ups get on with running the country) 🤔

Why are "grown-ups" such big fans of genocide? Authoritarian oppressions of opposite to genocide. Spreading ignorant hatred of immigrants.

What grown-ups? The ones who have managed to drag Labour’s poll rating down to the teens? Brilliant. Bring on the kids.

You really think Labour are that bothered about poll ratings with a 160 seat majority and 4 years to the next election 😂

They are clearly more bothered about poll ratings than actually delivering anything remotely resembling Labour policies. Sadly they are so crap about it they have managed to alienate the very people they need if they are not to get annihilated in the next election. Those people are not coming back.

Remotely resembling Labour policies. One of the most important developments for families in the last decade 🤔 share.google/u1hBWhTQMB51...

I mean, as long as you aren't inmigrant, disabled, queer or poc maybe then maybe Labour is a bit good I guess. You'd also had to ignore using the OSA to silence dissent, give your data to third parties,

ban anything they deem as against them (And that already seems to be more targeted towards queer expression than anything else.) But sure.... they are the party of the people.

. . . or consider Palestinians to be human beings, worthy of human rights and protection of international law.

Polanski would eat him alive.

Why wait?

The BBC probably won't be keen to see its hero crushed on live television.

Where do they stand on Ukraine?

Right behind Putin bsky.app/profile/nick...

Shame. That means in England, I can't vote for the Greens.

For Trump reasons. Zack is generating a flurry of false narrative comms by Labour and others. I wonder why? 🤔 Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski Says UK Must Leave NATO Because of Trump – Byline Times share.google/EtynAy4Rf9jC...

Pulling out of Nato because Trump is US President is not going to be easy to reverse once he is not. And it's not clear to me that he favours the kind of large-scale rearmament that would be necessary to replace Nato's role in our national defence in that case.

And to me his willingness to share a platform with Stop The War as it endorses Putin's imperialist invasion of Ukraine is disqualifying. I'm willing to hear him out on a lot, but not that.

He also spoke of a willingness to work with Corbyn as well, under the Green umbrella. This means if anyone is willing to sign up to the Green's agenda he will work with them.

If he's serious about replacing Labour, he's going to need to build broad electoral appeal. As Starmer is showing, without boundaries the risk of losing votes on the opposite flank to the one you embrace escalates as you go further away from the centre. Who, then, is too extreme for Zack Polanski?

Farage. Let Polanski set out his stall. Actual policies etc. No more sideline chatter from him, it's time for him to speak with responsibility as Green leader. I watch with interest.

As do I.

That is not much of a positive for me. Corbyn is a good local politician but I don't want him in charge at a national level.

It's unlikely that Corbyn will be in charge.

Corbyn won’t work with him as he’s a rival. Corbyn’s new party may attract the far left Greens.

Corbyn and Polanski have both said that they would look at ways to work with each other, but it will be a matter for the members to decide in either party. No one is going to work with Labour, except maybe the equally irrelevant Libs and Tories.

The article doesn't state whether the UK would continue to support Ukraine under the Greens. The article states they would leave NATO. Same level of stupid as leaving the ECHR. Still not going to vote Green as long as that is a policy.

From page 42 of the long manifesto: "The Green Party wants to see the UK: ... Continue to support Ukraine as it resists Russian invasion"

Better. NATO is still a red flag for me. Will wait and see.

Me too, but the Green Party sets its policy at conference and most members still support NATO. (There's also a reference to European disarmament in the manifesto, I hope attitudes have changed now we have madmen in the White House)

Are you expecting a nuclear war with the United States?

What have nukes got to do with it? The point is that Europe, including the UK, should be able to defend itself without US help.

The membership voted for Polanski who has said that NATO membership isn't the be all and end all. Germany has said the same thing.

Er, yes. That's the "red flag" we're talking about.

The members will decide in due course, but there's a real possibility that there'll be two parties standing at the next UK election who are willing to leave NATO.

Does it not bother people that Polanski used to be a lib dem and a hypnotist charging over 200 quid an hour? He says all the right things but I doubt he'd change much if he ever became pm. George, I know you, as I did, used to like Russell Brand but we we're totally fucking wrong.

This alone should disqualify him from any sensible consideration Charaltan

A hypnotherapist isn’t a hypnotist.

How is making women believe their breasts are bigger therapy?

How is having the reading comprehension of a 6-year-old useful? The hypnotherapy was intended to help the subject be happier with themselves without surgery, you credulous fuckwit. Using talking points gleaned from the Sun marks you as a clown. Ruminate on that with the rest of the cattle.

I'm ultra wary of people seeking power. I also don't like how Polanski smeared Corbyn and then gave a very mealy mouthed apology. He also didn't bring up his hypnotising past when the greens were asking candidates to mention potentially embarrassing past misdemeanors on an old campaign trail.

There were also rumours Polanski quit the lib dems because he wasn't allowed to stand as a candidate and then switched to the greens. I do see him as smug and in love with himself. Beware false prophets. He hasn't proven anything to me yet unlike Corbyn who has proven himself for decades.

I know many people seem to be falling in love with Polanski but don't let that stop you from scrutinising him. One or a few actions can show the truth. A million words can hide it.

Nope, doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I don’t give a damn what he was 10-15 years ago. Name me one person or party who offers us better hope for the future right now.

Have to say, the fact that all these attacks are emerging so soon just reinforce that Zack is what we need right now.

👍

I mean...they're not going to replace them are they? But...they will likely take a lot of votes away from them...Reform/Tories will be well pleased with this election win for Polanski.

It's so funny when people claim Reform are the next government but the Greens can't possibly win. They aren't taking votes from Labour. The people who vote for them are the ones who have realised Labour no longer represent them and wouldn't vote for them anyway.

I think we'd all be better off once people finally realise that Labour aren't on the left any more.

Ellie Chowns achieved the 5th biggest constituency swing ever – from the Conservatives. It's not just Labour voters who are jumping ship.

Was it through ex conservatives voters though or through attracting those who wouldn't have voted for any other party? It's an important distinction because Labour seem to be going for the Conservative voters when the real wins are to be made from people who wouldn't vote for any right wing party.

I ran the numbers. Assuming the most pessimistic scenario that the drop in turnout was all accounted for by CON voters not showing up (i.e. other parties' losses all went Green), and without accounting for turnover, the number of Tories who flipped Green was 1608 more than Ellie's majority.

ok, well maybe they'll get 10 to 15% then, probably lower if Corbyn/Sultana party starts. Reform are above 30% in some polls now. If Labour/Tories/LD stay around 15-20% or lower, that will likely mean a majority govt for Reform.

If you haven't learned how laughable polls are by now you never will. Polls just before Brexit got the outcome completely wrong why do you think a poll 3 years before an election is at all accurate?

ok. Well maybe Greens will be up above 40% by then and Labour will be below 1%. have to see how Zack's eco-populism cuts through with the Greens electoral coalition, and what comes of Corbyn/Sultana's party.

Corbyn's party already shat all over their base that is unlikely that they are gonna get any real votes. Their first action was courting conservatives, anti feminist, anti abortionist and anti queers. They can go to the bin of obscurity alongside labour.

I voted Labour last time round, to oust the Con-Serve-Yourselves. However, Labour have disappointed. It seems likely that Reform will form a majority in the next parliament, but I'm not sure I want Labour (with their Reform copycat agenda), as the next biggest party!! I'll likely go Green!

Labour could step aside

So you've given up any hope whatsoever? The Greens' hope may be slender here, but Starmer's opening the door and rearranging the furniture for Farage, so hope there is entirely dead.

yes, I have given up hope. Think we're looking at a Reform/Tory govt...and all that brings... (might emigrate)

I've spent most of my adult life outside this country, but I'm too old to consider it now so I'm landed. My point is that if there's ANY hope, it doesn't lie with Starmer but, as I also said, that hope is slender.

Greens aren't going to form the next govt. Maybe they could get a few more MPs then they have. It will either be Labour/LD coalition, or Reform, that will be the choice..and with Greens and Corbyn/Sultana taking loads of votes in various towns and cities...that just makes a Reform govt more likely.

You're still talking as if Labour is a party of the left. It isn't. People need to get that out of their heads. It is now a neoliberal party. It's not even pretending to be anything else. We need to end this myth that it's the Tories and Reform on one side, Labour and the other parties on the...

... other. No. It is the Tories, Reform and Labour on one side. Once we accept that's the change Starmer has wrought on the Labour Party, then we can start thinking sensibly.

ok...whatever. That is a very bluesky point of view.

I don't hear you arguing otherwise. Just gainsaying. Your counterargument for those of us who seem able to cobble together a reasonable argument is...? Do you really see Labour as a party of social democracy any longer?

Kind of. They just have a very shit situation to try and deal with. Aging population, massive debt, increased interest rates on that debt, no growth, and everything needs more money. And please don't tell me a wealth tax on top 2% is going to fix all that.

because I swear the govt increased borrowing and put up taxes massively at the last budget to chuck at public sector worker pay, increase the min wage and the NHS, to invest in housing and renewables, are against leaving the ECHR and fracking and ...but yeah just the same.

1% of the nation owns more wealth than the bottom 70%. The UN has chastised us for our poverty levels given the wealth of the nation overall. Nearly three-quarters of millionaires in G20 countries advocate for the wealthy to pay higher taxes and see a threat to democracy in current inequalities.

Blame Starmer then, only himself to blame, the way he is alienating decent people that care for others

It will be a coalition of the right. Labour will repeat history, just as their first liberal Prime Minister sold out the working classes for capital Starmer and Davey will do the same.

“…taking loads of votes” as though those votes belong to Labour by default. Labour certainly aren’t going to form the next government, so why wouldn’t anyone claiming to be even vaguely progressive not vote for left-wing candidates instead?

It's time to kill the Labour Party. It's dying anyway. bsky.app/profile/pete...

oh, ok. Yeah, kill it. Why not.

The only reason not to is that there are no other options to the left of them. Which is palpably not the case. I am a Green Party member, but my hope is that some sort of electoral alliance, tacit or otherwise, will be agreed between us, the LibDems and the new party. That could keep Farage...

... out. But all Labour is doing is queering the pitch as an ostensible party of the left when it is now anything but. I want it eradicated.

well...breast of luck.

Kill it?

🤭

It's already fucking dead from the head down

20% Labour?

I think that’s a complete abrogation of your responsibilities to your fellow citizens thh

They can certainly replace them in certain seats, to a point where voting Labour is splitting the Green vote, not the other way round

To be fair, it wasn't that long ago that Reform were a fringe party that had no chance of replacing the Tories. But the Tories imploded so spectacularly that Reform are now the main party of the right (if polling is to be believed). Why shouldn't the Greens do the same on the left?

I think there is every chance they will. Next year’s local elections are going to be very interesting.

Yeah well, if only Labour could do something about that, such as... I dunno... be less shitty to foreigners? All I'm getting is wall-to-wall nativism from them, so yeah, fuck 'em. Green/LD it is.

That assumes that anyone will still vote for Labour with two left-wing parties on the ballot.

You mean the same Labour Party who told the left. What was it ‘shaking off the flees’ also working everyday to stop a Labour government. You mean that Labour

Reform are going to win anyway. Voting for Labour isn't more beneficial than Reform

I mean, Labour could try to win our votes, but they're not, so I don't see why i should have to vote for them anyway.

You don't understand the Labour position: "Fuck you, you have no choice but to vote for us"

Ok, ok, we’re transphobic flag shaggers who want to “temporarily” suspend human rights, but can’t you ignore all that & vote for us anyway? 🤪🤣

Also, look at all of Yvette’s flags! She mad fer ‘em!

Labour got the Ladybird book of 'How to torch your electoral coalition' and are following it word-for-word.

They seem to think winning by default was due to their masterful election strategy… Despite their not even having an election strategy (beyond say nothing) 🤪🤣

Labour aren't owed my vote and if they won't earn it, someone else will

yes, well ok...but with a fptp system and all these parties it might actually be smarter to vote tactically...unless your ok with Farage as PM and mass deportations and binning of net zero etc?

Voting tactically was how trans people lost their right with labour fuck that.

Agreed. Vote tactically for the Greens or Corbyn's new party and let FPTP wash away the centrists in LibLabCon.

Thats what Labour are basically offering as well as the rampant transphobia and authoritarianism so yeah, they can go fuck themselves

If Labour are too stupid to replace FPTP, then they deserve the annihilation it is going to deliver them.

Labour IS the tories now

I applaud the bravado, but this is a bit "go back to your constituencies and prepare for government".

🥱

Such a nice change to see some coverage of Greens

Hypnotism is kinder than cutting through, George.

@georgemonbiot.bsky.social finally, people are calling out the Fascism for what it is. #Fascism #Polanski

@Lazarou @georgemonbiot.bsky.social Except that Starmer's and my best hope in stopling Reform in 2029 is the splitting of the right of centre vote by the Tory remnants. Splitting the left doesn't seem to be the greatest idea while we have FPTP. Be careful of what you wish for.

@stuart @Lazarou @georgemonbiot.bsky.social I don't live in the UK, but from what I hear calling Starmer's Labour Party "left" might be stretching it.

Starmer's Labour is the UK franchise of the Democrats in the US. Reform are the GOP.

No he's not. Fascism was born out of the mediocrity of centrists and centrism was only ever popular because it was operating in the absence of a proper left-wing. Now we have two parties on the left there is zero point to Labour even existing. Wait for the exodus of MPs up to the next election.

I am very much looking forward to seeing Polanski on prime time BBC programmes as frequently as Nigel Farage, if not more so.

September 25th. Thursday night. BBC Farage Time back on. Surely gone time for Zack to have his first ever invite! #bbcqt

I'm intrigued why no one seems to know who exactly decides which personality is on these news programmes. It's high time they were identified and grilled on, er... QT about how they arrive at their choices.

Starmer has to go. Fuck it, the whole Labour govt has got to go. End the right wing uni-party nonsense in parliament.

You swallowed the coolade 14 yrs of Tory 💩 show and after 1 yr of Labour you give up. That’s why Reform are riding high.

15 years, including Labour , who are now trying to steal Reform's clothes. Fucking centrist dweebs

... I swear they cannot see how far towards the knee-jerking right they have shifted.

Go and look at what Labour have achieved in one year and look at what we left behind in the Tories.

I have seen what Labour has achieved. Your friends in Israel are closer than ever to a final solution. Austerity has been expanded to attack even more vulnerable people. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is a constant drum beat towards pogroms. Trans people have been stripped of rights. You must be so proud.

When George Osborne said that we had to cut benefits and local authorities had to sell off playgrounds because Labour left them with no money, was he correct?

There's always a "mess the previous government left us with" isn't there

It's been fascinating to watch them play all the hits.

Ooooo union jack table covers bsky.app/profile/bren...

She probably bought that bunting this week. This is such a pathetic look.

I get what you’re saying but it’s imo like this - the hard right are trying to hijack the national flag for nasty racist purposes. We can allow them to set that agenda, or alternatively say, ‘ha yes, nice colours, we can all wave our flag anytime we like, but not on your terms”. 🧐

The UK military is under the kosh of America, probably for a very long time, it's no wonder orders are followed.

Well is the Pope a Catholic. The UK military is entwined with the US and has been for 70 years.

Yes, all valid concerns, I get it. youtu.be/Qify34OLIB4 What it actually seems to illustrate is that the UK is truly a vassal state of America, and trump has given starmer his marching orders to ramp up racial tensions and being a good establishment statesman, he and his party have got to work.

America and Israel

I think it’s more the case of Reform are intent on dividing us against each other for their own ends. Trump exploits division in the USA, like Reform do here..

Labour are using the flags for exactly the same reasons and in the exact same ways. They've been waiting for this very moment to get the 'bunting' out.

Tosh.

Right wing Labour 'worked hard every day' for those previous tory governments

Oh great. Let’s sit in our imaginary tower of political purity and continue to watch the far right laughing all the way to the ballot box.

I'm sure your strategy of supporting a far right party will work out better.

If you think Labour are a far right party, then you’re on for a shock.

This week a minister suggested imprisoning people, who have not been convicted or indeed *accused* of a crime, in *warehouses*. I think that qualifies as far right, but whatever words we choose to use it's certainly true that any decent person will agree they're fucking awful and need to be fought.

What are we saying then, "thatcherite"?

Is political purity the new 'antisemitism'? That won't end well

You think doubling access to free child care is Labour stealing Reform’s clothes? Don’t be a dummy.

Don't be a genocide party-supporting cunt

(is that how this works?)

No. Insulting ppl with lies causes you to be muted.

"Professor Insensible"

you need more argument practice. If not genocide then what are your red lines for this Labour government?

You think an increase in childcare offsets slashing benefits, racist immigration policies, supporting genocide and throwing trans people under the bus? It’s as bad as the people who praised Mussolini for making the trains run on time.

You think increasing minimum wages, securing greater workers rights etc are what Reform would do? 🤡

No. I just don’t think anyone who is not a troll would think that outweighs supporting genocide, slashing benefits, attacking human rights, throwing trans people under the bus, and going full Enoch Powell on immigration.

Repeating your nonsense doesn’t make it credible

where is your counter argument then?

Labour hasn’t supported genocide, slashed benefits, or attacked trans rights. You’re making things up, the Daily Mail would be proud of you.

No trans ppl have been thrown under a bus by the Labour government. Nor are they supported if genocide. Nor are they slashing benefits.

Speaking of Tory 💩, here you are cheering it on, just because it is your team who is now forcing it down our throats.

Who is forcing what down our throats? Oh, you think we have sovereignty do you? We can buck the bond markets? Ignore fiscal sustainability? Let’s print money? Or tax the rich (so long as it’s not you)?

Maybe explain that before the election? Rather than deliberately obfuscate and pretend taxes wouldn't have to rise? Maybe don't speak about "squalid chapters" or "clandestine experiments in open borders"? Maybe don't post sinister pictures of deliveroo drivers that put a target on their backs?

And yet they did. No one supports illegal migration. They said income tax wouldn’t rise, and it hasn’t. What tax rise would you vote for if you are paying it? Are the bond markets irrelevant? How would you service the debt? It’s easy to criticise, harder to fix things.

No they didn't. They were complicit in a conspiracy of silence about the fiscal challenge. They could have campaigned on a much more ambitious mandate and didn't. I'd have voted for CGT/IHT, and IT rises I'd also not have supported the NI cuts. It was obvious they would need to go up.

And you can oppose illegal migration (which btw does not include asylum seekers or refugees) without speaking about human beings the way Starmer does, or participating in this grotesque vilification of them. At every turn, he legitimises intolerance and ignorance, it has real world consequences, and

It's disgusting. It's an hostoric betrayal of Britain's international reputation, of their own voters and most importantly of refugees and asylum seekers, and just anyone that looks a bit different. The whole risible spectacle, it's contemptible, and it's a fucking disgrace.

I agree some moral courage should be shown. Yet .. history has shown ppl don’t vote for parties that tell the truth about taxes or finances. As for the whole migration issue - I agree if they don’t make a robust stand against the hate being shown then it only legitimises it further.

I think he sounds quite good if he said that about the Clayton’s (clandestine) Nazi Starmer.

Of the Green party can get their party discipline right and not mess about with far right policies they will almost certainly wipe out labour.