Give Starmer the chance to carry out his promises | Letters
As a local Labour activist, I understand the general wailing and gnashing of teeth that has beset the party after our drubbing in the local elections.But amid the panic about who should or shouldn’t resign, or what may or may not happen in three years’ time, I’d like to propose a philosophy that I’m calling “positive defeatism”.For only the fourth time in a century, a Labour prime minister has won a general election with a large majority – with a mandate that takes us to July 2029.What if we stop worrying about a second term and just get on with making consequential changes in this term?Here’s my list for starters: Locking in the great transition so that climate deniers can’t undo it; reducing the voting age to 16 so young people get a chance to vote for their future; and reforming party funding laws so that shadowy cryptocurrency barons can’t hijack our democracy.There are other priorities of course – cost of living, housing, inequality…So let’s make the most of the time we have now.
And who knows – we might just get that second term after all,Mark BurtonReading, Berkshire Isn’t it about time that politicians and journalists stop behaving as if the UK is run under a presidential system (Keir Starmer under pressure to agree exit plan after election mauling, 8 May)? We don’t need the chaos of a change of leader midterm, just for some senior Labour cabinet ministers to take action,How about four or five heavyweights coming up with two or three signature policies that would demonstrate vision, political courage, and bring about the change that ordinary people are looking for? Those figures then tell Keir Starmer that those changes are going to happen and that if he wants to remain prime minister, he can make the necessary announcements and take the credit,If he won’t, his time is up,As a lifelong Labour voter, I am tired of reading about politics through the prism of personal ambition and backstabbing.
It is time for real leadership,Mary RogersMartock, Somerset I couldn’t agree more with Jason Okundaye’s analysis on the impact of distaste, even hatred, of Keir Starmer on some local election results (8 May),After 50 years of running the council in Barnsley, Labour has lost control to Reform UK,This despite doing a great job in rejuvenating the town in spite of austerity,Apparently many stated that they voted Reform because they don’t like Starmer.
They don’t understand that Barnsley has one of the highest economic growth rates in the country, is the first technology town in the country, has a completely transformed town centre with the second-highest footfall in Yorkshire, innovative health diagnostic and treatment facilities in the centre of town that are transforming healthcare, new libraries and state-of-the-art youth facilities.I could go on.Many of those achievements will be destroyed by Reform’s Doge-like policies and cost-cutting.I despair!Phil ColeBarnsley, South Yorkshire A “working class” man was interviewed by the BBC and asked why he’d voted Reform.His reply was: “Starmer’s done nothing for us.
” Really? Has he heard of the hike in the minimum wage? If he’s a renter, has he heard of the vast improvement of the rights of private renters?If he’d been asked “What’s Nigel Farage done for you?” he could have answered: “He got us out of Europe” (even though he wasn’t in government),And most experts agree that this has put a few percentage points on the cost of living and made the cost of a European holiday rise by at least the price of a passport,He’s also persuaded a fair proportion of the British population to suspect – even be hostile towards – immigrants,If the British electorate don’t come to their senses come the general election, what further harm can he do? I hope and pray that we won’t find out,Rev George GreenhoughSelby, Yorkshire The local election successes for Reform UK, particularly in areas that voted for Brexit like my home town of Sunderland, reminded me of the well-known psychology of cult members.
When faced with the failure of cult leader predictions (the end of the world next Wednesday, the second coming, the rapture, untold riches etc), members often double down on their irrational beliefs, and cult membership can even increase,Nigel Farage’s overblown claims for the positive benefits of Brexit and his alliance with Donald Trump should have resulted in electoral death, but instead seems to have spurred voters to back him further,Let us hope that sense prevails before the next general election,Ian HendersonNottingham It would be interesting to see how many new Reform UK councillors recently held their seats representing other parties,One of our three ward councillors in Havering represented us as a Conservative until recently.
Did she defect purely to hold her seat? Several others, as well as our Romford MP, sat as Tories until recently.Similar situations exist throughout the three countries.So the swing to Reform may not be all that it seems.Ralph Gordon Romford, London The outcome of the recent elections is likely to be a huge bonus to Labour.Over the next months, the people in council areas who backed the Reform UK candidates will discover just how terrible it can be when the totally inexperienced – politically and administratively – take over their communities, without a clue or insight into tried and tested political implementations.
It will be a disaster, of course, and will bring a swing strongly back to Labour – with over a century of experience, government, public accountability, practical ideology and much more.Also, it will clearly bring the Labour party together again as a united movement – with a willingness to understand and to respect differences of opinion within itself – after the recent and boringly repetitive parroting of phrases such as left, right, central, extremist, Corbynite and other facile jargon of little depth or perception.Dr Ian FlintoffFormer Labour chair, parliamentary candidate and elected councillor Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
England beat New Zealand by one wicket: first women’s cricket ODI – as it happened
That’s it from me, thanks for your company and comments. Raf Nicholson’s report will be along very shortly and we’ll be back to OBO the second match of the series from Northampton on Wednesday, it’s a 1pm start for that one.Goodnight!Charlie Dean is named player of the match and she looks elated after getting her side home at the end.double quotation markOne from one, and a brilliant start from us. To restrict them to 200 made it more do-able for us
Ruud says Sinner is ‘beatable’ as world No 1 seeks record run at Italian Open
Casper Ruud believes Jannik Sinner is not unbeatable but the rest of the field will have to catch the world No 1 on a favourable day as they try to stop him winning a record-extending sixth consecutive Masters 1000 title on home soil at the Italian Open.“His results this year kind of speak for themselves,” said Ruud. “Four Masters 1000s in a row to begin the year. Four of four. He’s already made history, he can make more history
Campbell Ridl boosts Exeter’s Prem playoff push with victory over Bath
The road to the Prem playoffs continues to be full of compelling twists and turns. For a while it seemed Exeter might about to be reeled in by opponents renowned for their finishing strength only for second-half tries from Paul Brown-Bampoe, Len Ikitau and Campbell Ridl and a resilient defensive effort to steer the Chiefs to one of their more pleasing league wins of the season.With Leicester and Saracens finishing strongly and only three regular season fixtures remaining this was a game the home side could ill afford to lose and that extra edge played a part against a Bath side still feeling the psychological effects of their disappointing Champions Cup semi-final loss in Bordeaux. As the game wore on it was Exeter who grew in confidence and this result puts them in fourth place, five points clear of Bristol in fifth.With a stiff north-easterly blowing down the ground Exeter had an eight point first-half cushion to work with but will be most satisfied with the way they subsequently dug deep in a game once again notable for a number of head collision reviews
Woeful rabble v flag contenders: a tale of two AFL clubs in Western Australia
It might be only a third of the way through the AFL season, but the two Western Australia-based teams have never been more diametrically opposed in their pursuit of a premiership.The Fremantle Dockers are now bona fide flag contenders after beating the red-hot Hawks 12.16 (88) to 11.7 (73) at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, despite being down by 19 points early in the last quarter.Rarely in the Dockers’ 30-odd-year history has the club displayed such grit and resilience coming from behind to win four of their eight games
Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in bloody epic to win WBO heavyweight title
Daniel Dubois completed his latest resurgence with brutal efficiency when he became the WBO world heavyweight champion after stopping Fabio Wardley early in the 11th round of a dramatic and blood-soaked contest. Howard Foster, whose pale blue shirt had turned crimson as if he worked in an abattoir rather than in a boxing ring as a referee, jumped between the courageous fighters to rescue Wardley 28 seconds into the penultimate round.It was a merciful stoppage because the fallen champion, with his face a mask of blood pouring from his badly cut and broken nose, had been examined twice before by the ringside doctor. Both fighters emerged with enormous credit after an epic battle. Dubois was knocked down twice in the fight, and dropped for the first time 10 seconds after the opening bell, but he came back with commendable resolve
Glamorgan’s Norton claims hat-trick on debut, Sibley on song for Surrey: county cricket – as it happened
Eighteen-year-old Tom Norton charged about Sophia Gardens chased by cock-a-hoop Glamorgan teammates, who clapped his back and rubbed his beard, as he became the youngest County Championship debutant to take a hat-trick, ruining Somerset’s innings in the process. Norton first removed James Rew for a duck, in what will count as a failed experiment to push him up the order, before Tom Lammonby pecked behind and Archie Vaughan doddered in front of his stumps.“I don’t think I can put it into words to be honest. It’s the most mental 45 minutes I’ve ever had on a cricket field,” said Norton, the first championship debutant to take a hat-trick since 1906.“I never thought this would happen
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