I think what's most worrying to me as a previous lukewarm Starmer supporter is how chaotic it is internally, with stuff being leaked, his chief of staff resigning, and infighting between ministers and the civil service.

There were some really obvious own goals like when he announced the cut in winter fuel payments (which I support) as a standalone policy instead of waiting for the autumn budget on 30 October, so it can be a small part of a strategy instead.

Moreover, it's concerning how they are still deliberating over key parts of the budget now, two weeks prior to the announcement. Surely you should have done your homework in opposition like Blair and Brown did?

I also don't understand the logic behind suspending 30 arms contracts to Israel. He just pissed off the pro-Israel crowd by going too far AND the pro-Palestine crowd for not suspending all arms sales.

We will see over the next 3-6 months whether this is part of the inevitable teething problems associated with forming a new government from a precarious position, or if this is due to Keir Starmer just not having the leadership or political know-how to navigate the cut-throat world of politics in government.

This post was edited by dro94 on Oct 11 2024 09:36am

From what I can tell as a foreign outsider, it seems as if Labour is still deeply divided internally between a technocratic center-left wing (which is where Starmer's heart is) and a far-left wing wanting bold, progressive policies (which is where the energy in the party still is). That would explain the staff turmoil and the ongoing tug-of-war over the budget.

Dito with the Israel arms sales: Starmer quite clearly wanted to stake out a compromise position, but misjudged that this is an issue on which there is no viable compromise; an issue on which it is politically wiser to just pick a side and endure the criticism. What I don't understand is why Starmer is trying so hard to thread a needle to begin with, considering the gigantic majority he has in the Commons. He can lose a sizable share of the votes of his own party's MPs and still get his bills passed comfortably.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Oct 11 2024 09:48am

I don't see it being that because Starmer deliberately and systematically drove out all Corbynite members and many of the MPs. Some still remain but not more than 50.

The most logical answer to the puzzling strategy of Starmer so far is that he's not very good at politics.

I still think big picture Labour have the most answers, despite all the flaws. We need to be spending a much higher proportion of GDP on infrastructure and encourage much more private investment. That is the main way to boost productivity which the tories had no answer for.

e/ I'll reserve my judgement on Labour having the answers until after the budget.

This post was edited by dro94 on Oct 11 2024 12:27pm

⚠️🇩🇪Volkswagen plans major layoffs, to shut at least three German plants, works council head says

(Reuters) - Volkswagen plans to shut at least three factories in Germany, lay off tens of thousands of staff and permanently shrink its remaining plants in Europe's biggest economy as the continent's top carmaker is plotting a deeper-than-expected overhaul, the works council head said on Monday.

"Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not sabre-rattling in the collective bargaining round," Daniela Cavallo, Volkswagen's works council head, told several hundreds of employees in Wolfsburg.

"This is the plan of Germany's largest industrial group to start the sell-off in its home country of Germany," Cavallo added, not specifying which plants would be affected or how many of Volkswagen Group's roughly 300,000 staff in Germany could be laid off.

its hilarious to watch, now even the blue chip car manufacturers are getting cooked

well, thats what happens when you build cars that nobody wants

VW has been producing overpriced crap for almost 2 decades. They ran head-first into the midmarket trap: not fancy enough to be a luxury brand, but also not cheap enough to appeal to customers who care about value for money.


What I wrote two pages ago still applies, though: even though their profitability crumbled in Q3/24, they still post a net profit of well over 1 billion euros in that quarter alone. They are struggling, but it's not like they're in an existential crisis. They're failing to meet profitability targets amidst difficult circumstances and now want to squeeze their staff to make up for it. Fuck them.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Oct 30 2024 03:44am