Labour's Cronyism Scandal Explained

[@archieclark6544]

The outdoors smoking ban has got way more attention compared to this

[@louiscypher4186]

As they were intended to.

[@sirsnipermonkey]

@@louiscypher4186as it should be

[@TomMAF4]

@@sirsnipermonkeywow, not bothered by cronyism? Surely this Labour’s favourite kind of voter

[@JohnzaloogIII]

I feel like I’ve been hearing “their honeymoon period is over” since like 2 days after the election, and that line is still getting trotted out.

[@matthewparker9276]

Yeah, the honeymoon period isn't defined by a lack of scandals, it's about leeway given for scandals, crises, or unfavourable policy decisions.

[@JackHankeAnd]

It keeps being said because it continues to be true! It’ll keep being mentioned until the early days of Parliament are over and “the honeymoon is over” has ceased to be a relevant comment.

[@ihabjml1302]

@@JohnzaloogIII when you enter government having broken every vow you made, there's not much enthusiasm for a honeymoon. This is the most unpopular government to ever enter into the office of government, having won an obscene majority on the back of only 30% of the electorate voting for them. They don't deserve a honeymoon. This is a marriage born from purely wanting to spite your ex.

[@sirsnipermonkey]

@@ihabjml1302I’m not shocked Labour don’t have a crystal ball. I’m happy to see unsubstantiated vows broken to pragmatic realism.

[@ihabjml1302]

@@sirsnipermonkey they didn't need a crystal ball. The £20 billion dollar deficit was known during the election campaign. Labour chose to ignore it and set out no agenda, instead opting to promise no tax rises when entering government and letting the electorate sleepwalk into Tory Austerity 2.0. This was after Starmer had previously adopted the pledge to instate a wealth tax which would have gone a long way to addressing the budget deficit, but he reneged on that pledge before the election campaign began to satisfy his wealthy friends and donors. So no I reject the idea that this labour government is pragmatic, they are anything but. They are Machiavellian charlatans riding on the coattails of public discontent over the Conservatives who will ultimately turn out to benefit their donors and friends at the expense of the ordinary Brit; it will become clear very soon that this is Tory sleaze but painted poppy red.

[@jameslewis2635]

Cronyism is a problem everywhere. It's not just politics, it's in the business world as well. The same goes for media and pretty much anywhere else where someone is in charge and others might think that getting into someone's good graces could help them get where they want to be.

[@ferni...]

Beautiful any time that a podcast ACKNOWLEDGISED that they have failed to record it correctly on a previous attempt

[@yellit1975]

Light Banter, is a great name for a new TLDR Podcast.

[@macchus]

Scotland is still misspelt on the Too Long: August 2024 - UK Election Special page “what's next for England, Sctoland, Wales, and Northern Ireland”

[@fieldmarshalgaig4856]

Personally i think the reason labour isnt being treated in the same way is because the tories were corrupt and ineffective for 14 years. So far labour is turning out to be a bit corrupt, we dont know if they are ineffective yet. If it turns out labour is appointing people in dodgy ways and they are doing a terrible job whilst benefiting the people they appoint i think it will get more coverage.

[@ihabjml1302]

They are more than corrupt, they are authoritarian. When you are authoritarian, corruption is a side dish.

[@ihabjml1302]

@@fieldmarshalgaig4856 they were appointing people in dodgy ways even before they were elected. Starmer did a purge of popular constituency candidates who weren't from his "faction" of the party and parachuted in his own cronies into constituencies that they had no business being in. He is a dictator and a bully just like Boris Johnson, with absolutely none of the charisma. It feels like Starmer's Labour maybe replaying the Tory chaos spiral in fast forward.

[@vinniechan]

People have short memories Most new voters don't remember the psyop Alistair Campbell pulled off to get the country to vote on war in Iraq The point about effectiveness - the labour pitch during the election was competence while didn't offer much that materially differ from the Tories So in effect they are pitching to be more competent than the Tories at doing Tories things

[@samburgess7924]

Impressed by the critique. Good job, report on both.

[@Pindar1215]

Just realized I didn't know you two were different people until I saw you in a room together

[@yurisei6732]

Hang on a minute, the penalty for receiving over £800,000 in undeclared contributions is a £14,000 fine? That's less than 2%, it may as well be a rounding error. How is that in any way going to discourage this behaviour?

[@AaronTheHumanist]

I always feel like a silly sausage 😂

[@getnohappy]

Don't forget cronyism is the main business model of the Tory party. The RW press won't make too much of a fuss (nevermind the Tories themselves) because they don't want the attention on the issue.

[@JetsfanMrT]

I just got my Too Long yesterday! Looking forward to it

[@aenastik7561]

Love the podcasts!!

[@bruhlewis9508]

Were you guys stoned during the first five minutes or so?

[@WafflesYo]

yo is he high today? xD

[@jwil4286]

And people thought this was *only* a problem with the Tories…

[@CountDadLord]

How does one financially support TLDR if they don't want a paper magazine?

[@tehpluto3594]

Could buy a digital mag and just never read it if you don’t want it

[@NoJusticeMTG]

Patreon?

[@thequestioner5916]

KZbin itself by just watching their videos

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

Nebula.

[@markanderson6969]

Does starmer mean his glasses came from aldi

[@swiftsabre28]

There was a survey? I ordered a copy and never got a survey 😭

[@blair2798]

Politics = cronyism = politics = cronyism, etc, etc, etc. Always been this and always will be this.

[@mr.netflix9149]

Then why even care?

[@ihabjml1302]

You forget that Starmer also pledged a wealth tax which could have been used to correct the public finances, which he also reneged on alongside all his other pledges. Starmer broke his promises not because he had to, but it was a political choice. He did not need to choose austerity. He is a Machiavellian villain.

[@blisseyran-dom6822]

Above inflation pay rises hardly screams austerity.

[@ihabjml1302]

@@blisseyran-dom6822 hmm, seems like someone isn't paying attention to the news. Labour announced they will cut back fuel subsidies for the elderly, maintain the two child benefit gap, and gave a very depressing speech on the topic of misery. There is wide speculation that this next budget will introduce tax rises to fill the £20 billion hole in the public finances which apparently Rachel Reeves had no idea about, even though this was widely reported on during the election campaign. If punishing others for your own feigned ignorance is not austere, I don't know what is. Starmer's Labour has no plans so they turn to the old Cameron-Osbourne playbook. Oh and by the way, these pay rises don't come close to restoring wages; pay rises a smidge above one-year's inflation mean very little after a generation of wage suppression.

[@ihabjml1302]

@@blisseyran-dom6822 seems like someone hasn't been paying attention to the news. Labour are withdrawing fuel subsidies to the elderly and maintaining the two child benefit cap, which will push both the most elderly and youngest in our society into destitution. Starmer just gave a whole speech on the misery he expects us to experience. It is widely expected that this upcoming budget is going to raise taxes on working and middle class with no news of a wealth tax on the rich. This all sounds very reminiscent of Cameron-Osbourne style austerity to me. Also, pay rises just a smidge above inflation does very little to address a generation of wage suppression.

[@blisseyran-dom6822]

@@ihabjml1302 The winter fuel payment is going up for the most vulnerable old people. Have you not been paying attention to the news?

[@blisseyran-dom6822]

An issue with cronyism is that no matter how qualified someone is, if they get appointed to a high position, it will be seen as cronyism, even if they're the best person for the job. The thing that sets this aside, in my opinion, is that with the Conservatives, it was just a case of jobs for mates. They weren't qualfied. They didn't have any business being there. At least with this, if Labour wasn't in government but these appointments still occurred, they wouldn't raise eyebrows.

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

Lib Dems in 2029, then?

[@Kinesis007]

I don't read alot of physical or even digital stuff anymore, partly because I need to read alot at work and also just for time. I use AI to summarize alot of content for me now. Any thoughts of an audiobook / podcast version of Too Long? Also if you want to go absolutely crazy look up a RAG implementation into a chat bot so I can have a conversation with Too Long ;-)

[@mikeStinson-gg2wl]

The UK( united kaliphate) is in deep trouble with ostarmer bin laden he deos not respect free speech and he is corrupt lets save our country 😢😢😢

[@josephharrison8354]

There are legitimate criticisms and rational commentary to be had regarding Starmer's premiership so far. This doesn't count.