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Sunday 17 September 2023

For working people



Sir Keir Starmer fails to rule out tax burden rise under Labour

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, the opposition leader also rejects as "complete garbage" Tory accusations Labour planned to join an EU-wide migrant quota scheme as part of efforts to tackle small boats crossings in the Channel.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to guarantee the tax burden - currently the largest since the Second World War - would not increase under Labour.


While the opposition leader told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme he wanted it to come down "for working people", his "laser focus" was on growing the economy.


To save the reader trouble, I mention here, that Sir Keir Starmer has a habit of introducing words such as “for working people,” as everybody is aware who has the honour of knowing him, without relation to their meaning, but simply to caulk, as it were, the seams of his sentences, to stop them where they open, and save his speech from foundering for want of this trifling half-pennyworth of oakum.

Adapted from Sheridan Le Fanu. I’m sure he won’t mind.

4 comments:

dearieme said...

I used to be a dab hand with a caulking iron. I did enough of it, caulking, that I could probably do it still.

Unlike soldering, the memory of which has almost entirely vanished. Which boyhood skills stick, and which don't? I imagine it depends on how much repetition was involved. I learnt to solder so that I could assemble a radio. It worked but, Lord, it was dull work. I never built anything else electrical.

And then there are redundant skills e.g. using a pipette without a bulb. Is greasing the cock on a burette still a useful skill?

I could still shoot, I'm pretty sure, sail a bit, ride a motorbike. Not that these notions have anything to do with the son and heir of the owner of the Oxted Tool Company, of course. I doubt that His Kieriness has ever caulked, soldered, or spent much time in the chem lab.The shystering trade was more this thing.

DiscoveredJoys said...

Sir IKEA is so focused on not leaving himself as a hostage to fortune that he says nothing of importance. Says nothing but uses a lot of words to do so, like most lawyers.

The advantage of this pose is that when he (probably) becomes Prime Minister only his secret promises will be in play, not any public ones.

So I guess we're down to seeing what he does rather than what he says. Can he break the habits of a lifetime, or will the lawyer continue?

Tammly said...

Kier Starmer couldn't organise a button box.

I learnt to solder from a wireman in an electronics company and finished my career soldering circuits in an aerospace company and I very much enjoyed it. Mind you, the professional training helped a good deal.

A K Haart said...

dearieme - I've never caulked, but I recently repaired a battery-operated Christmas decoration by soldering. Haven't soldered for decades but it was neat enough. I'm sure I could ride a motorbike, but one boyhood skill I wouldn't test is tree climbing.

DJ - it's difficult to see him being anything but a disaster and never knowing his views on anything could eventually undermine his position. Yet it's difficult to see Sunak being any better or even significantly different. More of the same seems baked in at the moment.

Tammly - Starmer would say all buttons are equal and it is wrong to organise them. I taught myself to solder but only ever did minor repairs. I once soldered a memory board extension to my Sinclair ZX81 and was quite surprised when it worked.