To take the lowest hanging of fruit: If I wanted to keep the damn hands of the far right off my flag, which I do, I would have invited the winning England team to Downing Street on a day the prime minister could actually make and be in the photographs and clips for!
Starmer is the Brick of British Politics youtu.be/Ld35lMnFQ10?...
(So much of the 'well, he had to see Trump', I mean, yes, obviously he did. The Lionesses were on the Mall the very next day - frankly the idea that they would be going 'it's Monday or NOTHING' to the Downing Street reception is nuts!)
Part of the weird opposition mentality they haven't shifted yet of going 'oh, well, gotta flex'. No! It's a Downing Street reception! People flex their calendars for it, not the other way around!
Two things happening this summer: the Proms, one of the greatest things that the UK does culturally, all for free on the BBC, England women winning again, both things that the PM *actually likes* and are positive things about our country. Use them!
I will always, always go back to him on the Football Clichés podcast. Something he loves. And I've never heard a man more stilted in my life. A tiny amount of creativity and this gets used so easily!
💯
I think he does have to say something along the lines of "having been born in the normal way 60 years ago rather than falling down in the last shower of rain, I do not believe that people painting on roundabouts are expressing spontaneous love of their country and they should knock it off"
Yeah. It's really simple: you wave the flag in the normal way, i.e. at the Proms, a classical music event that he really loves, or watching England, again, a thing he actually does really care about, you have it on government buildings, and make it clear you don't button up at the back.
Yes but he’s too terrified of the Sun et al to make that argument isn’t he? The flag is great for football, rugby, Wimbledon and the proms but put it up outside your house and you’re going to decrease the value of houses on that street - can you ever see him making that argument?
I mean...he shouldn't. It's actually a good thing that some people are just going 'oh, they look nice, don't they' and putting some up themselves because it blurs the message the far right wants to send, which is that I should feel unwelcome when I see my own flag!
"I like Arsenal Football Club but that doesn't mean I want to see it spray painted on a bus shelter"
Yeah - as it happens the interview didn't get onto graffiti, but it is the easiest bit, even when I like the design choices someone has made with a tag, I don't like to see it on my building.
OR he goes and shouts at hotels
The way he never says anything about the arts, music in particular, weirds me out. As I've said , to be a Guildhall School of Music Junior Scholar you have to be really good, not just the typical junior high achiever with 1 or 2 grade 8s that Oxford was full of, and I just don't believe you can
get to that level not caring about music (rather than just wanting to excel at a technical exercise)
It does seem so simple to say He's practically encouraging it
'Also they look a bit naff, frankly'
Struck by his passivity. And today, he appears to contract out the ‘holding his ministers and civil servants to account’ part of his job to Darren Jones? Sorry but isn’t that central to the prime ministers role? What does he plan to do all day? Just do nato, trump and Ukraine for ever?
And flags fit in neatly to both
"It’s the greatest flag in the world & it’s going down the shitter. We’re here to do something about it" — Liam Gallagher, 1993 The flag tends to be unifying when embraced in mass culture - especially youth culture & sport. Previous PMs have been better at spotting that. wp.me/p6lzJb-6hV
Instead of which, everything he's saying here can be read as affirmation of the riots. Hardly helps crowd control when people trying to burn down buildings can say "The Prime Minister doesn't want them here!".
If the country government won't do it can't the people do it? If the UK government is anything like America the government doesn't make trends or make actions they follow something popular when people do it first. Not ducking on you but offering my $0.02
And the Proms taking place *from so many different places in the country*, not just the RAH, therefore something you could weave into a great narrative about a positive sense of place and identity
Also: Oasis concerts, which feature Union Jack guitars, or at least they did the last time I noticed them (1996)
And a winning Lions tour!
He'd have to be clear about what's England and what's British to promote both equitably.
There is plenty of patriotism to be proud of. The 2012 Olympic opening ceremony showed it. Labour just don’t have a clue how to utilise it.
Yes.Totally.I wish Starmer & team could put as much effort into stakeholder relations as they do (& seemingly very well) internationally in a uk content . He seems to fail w understanding you lever the role of PM to bring together interests, top down bottom up, & they help champion & enable change.
Not your point but: If the men’s team won back-to-back Euros, you’d have photos of Keir Starmer giving Harry Kane a piggyback tour of Downing Street.
He himself took the time to Zoom in on the day, it's just that there wasn't any kind of 'hmm, is this actually a thing we want our guy to get more out of?'
He could also show up at the current world cup being hosted *in England* and support the England women, clear tournament favourites and the strongest women's rugby team in the world. (I know it's rugby union, not the national sport, but it's happening *now*! And he could invite the Lionesses too!)
I agree with the sentiment but he is the UK Prime Minister, not the English Prime Minister. He should also make the effort to go to the Scottish and Welsh teams who are also in the tournament, not just having a St George Cross in the cabinet office.
You say that you support independence. Maybe as a starting point you could show some grip over what is actually being discussed, which is not about him 'supporting the teams' but him defending our flag from the racist extremes.
Reform are making inroads in Wales and the St George Cross is appearing on Welsh roundabouts. The racists operating in England are the same ones operating in Wales and what’s happening to your flag will happen to ours. It’s a UK wide problem and needs a UK wide, not an English only, response.
Nah, waving thr flag and cheering on the national team wouldn't seems weird. Just state that you have a flag in your home that you sit infront of, that's definitely normal.
Especially after he had Maro Itoje *at Downing Street purposely for St George's Day earlier this year* and since then Itoje went on to captain the Lions to victory in Australia 😐