It’s been an exciting few weeks here on the Island of Strangers. The government signed a memorandum of understanding on trade with Trump’s people, then negotiated an actual trade deal with the EU that, among many other things, may lead to lower food prices here (eventually). It also indicated it will pull a U-turn on two major—and majorly unpopular—policies it adopted early in its tenure: cutting the winter fuel allowance for seniors above a certain income level, and continuing the Conservatives’ version of the child tax benefit, which caps the number of children families can claim credit for at two. (Lifting this two-child benefit cap, according to the not-particularly-left-wing Institute for Fiscal Studies, would lift as many as 540,000 children in the UK out of poverty.)
Of course, any kind of understanding you come to with Donald Trump is worthless. There was relief in the media here when it was confirmed that Trump’s new 50% tariffs on steel that went into effect today around the world won’t apply to the UK. This relief was tempered by the fact that the gradual lowering of tariffs on UK steel that was supposed to start happening this month won’t. The UK is stuck at the old rate of 25% for now. If the UK and US don’t sign a final deal by July 9th, the tariffs go up to 50%.
The UK government is also trying to put through more bills that are causing consternation within its own ranks. There’s a threatened revolt by the Labour backbenches on the new planning bill, which would open up more opportunities for building housing while also handing over vast tracts of nature to developers. The government’s insane AI-first growth plan, which essentially breaks copyright for creatives to help AI companies, is also looking DOA: the House of Lords just voted it down a fourth time, thanks in part to loud opposition by a newly radicalised Sir Elton John. The policy behind this bill, it’s worth noting, appears to have been drafted in consultation with people from the tech industry, not creatives.
You’d think that with all this—getting fucked around by Trump, facing dissent in its own party, pissing off both Elton John and Paul McCartney—the Starmer government would, you know, try pursuing a bolder approach, by which I mean one that is ever so slightly more left-wing. They could raise taxes on the wealthiest rate-payers back to what they were before Brexit, for instance, or nationalise failing private-sector water companies. They could suppress the PM’s urge to make disgusting speeches about immigration. (That’s where the “island of strangers” line at the beginning of this post comes from, by the way. It’s a phrase which is uncomfortably close to rhetoric from an infamously racist speech given in 1968 by a Tory MP named Enoch Powell, which has gone down in history as the “Rivers of Blood” speech.)
No pain no gain? No! Pain: no gain.
— Duncan Robinson (@duncanrobinson.bsky.social) 5 June 2025 at 07:35
But the Starmer government shows no signs of doing anything to correct its current trajectory. It is still running scared of Reform UK and Nigel Farage, even though:
- Reform has just five MPs in parliament, making it smaller than both the Scottish National Party (nine) and Sinn Fein (seven, though SF doesn’t actually take its seats)
- There are already signs that Reform is fucking up at actually governing in the 12 local councils it has taken over following the local elections
- The next general election—I really cannot stress this enough—is in twenty-fucking-twenty-nine
Additionally, when you put party leaders head-to-head, Starmer is still the person most Britons say should be running the country, and Farage is the least popular:
This government is only 11 months old and almost certainly has another 49 months in its tenure. It has squandered so much trust and goodwill, and allowed itself to be bullied by the media (and by its consultant class). It could start rebuilding that trust and earning that goodwill, but I don’t see how it does that with this pack of cowards at the helm. A great many other countries that were flirting with Trump-style governance have woken the fuck up in the last four months; why can’t Starmer’s crowd? Christ.
Open thread. Here’s a photo of Monty resting between sets to calm your nerves:
Pete Downunder
In a contest for spinelessness by a left center government our PM Anthony Albanese aka Albo is certainly in the running for the podium if not the gold medal. There is not an interest group he hasn’t caved to although he has stood up to Trump
YY_Sima Qian
The PRC reaches into its bag for a well worn tool – a large purchase of airliners to smooth the way leading up to a high stakes diplomatic summit:
prostratedragon
In a time when even satirists fight against wanting to tap out, Monty’s heroic efforts could stand some reinforcement waiting in the wings. Look out, Henry!
Splitting Image
Since the readership of this blog is largely American, it’s probably safe to go ahead and call Starmer a donkey. A good portion of readers would nod their heads at your summary of Starmer’s behaviour and say, “Yep, just like a Democrat”.
Geminid
@Pete Downunder: What are the special interests PM Albo is caving to? Mining comes to mind. I just read of a a huge iron ore deposit that was discovered recently, and mining is already a big industry in Australia.
On a related subject, how is Australia’s clean energy transtion proceeding?
NotMax
Hasn’t been exercised for like two centuries but AFAIK the British monarch retains the power to veto legislation passed by Parliament.
Which is what Liz should haven done re: Brexit.
Pete Downunder
@Geminid:
Coal mine extensions, natural gas extensions, gambling ads (gambling is a huge problem here, we have like 0.33% of the world’s population and 20% of the poker machines). Sports betting is also huge and their ads are everywhere. Labor commissioned a study which recommended a total ad ban, but Albo caved to the gambling industry (and the media who gets revenue from the ads). Likewise both state and federal governments get huge tax revenue from gambling which is a tax on the poorest and most vulnerable. Really disgusting.
Geminid
@Splitting Image: Real life donkeys are actually pretty tough animals. They are used as guard animals for livestock because when threated by predators, a donkey’s instinct is not to run but intead to stay and fight. I wish more Democrats had this attitude, and here I’m not talking about our elected leaders.
But when I think of Keir Starmer, a different animal comes to mind. This occured to me when I saw Starmer conferring with other western leaders not long after he became PM. Starmer projected an amiable solidity; not a leader so much as a reliable junior partner. I thought of Great Britain’s dominant role in 19th century geopolitics and said to myself, “John Bull is now John Ox.”
Baud
@Splitting Image:
Not sure if that’s snarky, but I would say Starter has seen how Dems don’t get rewarded for making progress and has decided to try a different approach.
Perhaps his mistake is in assuming that UK voters aren’t better than US voters.
Baud
@Baud:
Starter = Starmer
Baud
@Pete Downunder:
I don’t know the first thing about AUS politics, but I can understand the pressure against slashing revenue sources right out of the gate. Of course, I can’t say there is some better time to do it either.
Pete Downunder
@Baud:
If you want revenue tax the wealthy and foreign corporations. Aus has multiple tax breaks for the wealthy that could be eliminated without any of the wealthy having suddenly to live under a bridge. Albo is of course too cowardly to do that either. He did come up with an idea to tax unrealized gains on assets held in pension plans. Everyone but the Labor party understands that’s insane
Baud
@Pete Downunder:
Good points. Yeah, taxing pension plans only sounds like a dumb idea.
satby
@Splitting Image: a good portion of this blog’s American readers can still recall John Rogers epic post on his blog Kung Fu Monkey “Lions Led By Donkeys“. A classic.
Pete Downunder
@Baud: Taxing the pension plan a bit more (up to 30% from 15%) isn’t that bad, it’s taxing unrealized gains that’s crazy. Say you have a property in your pension plan (not unusual here). It’s market value has gone up, under Labor’s plan you would have to pay the tax on the gain in value even if you did not sell the property. Where does the cash come from to pay the tax? What happens if the value then goes down?
Baud
@Pete Downunder:
Right. But if you’re going to try it, why limit it to pension plans and not other unrealized gains like stocks?
This is the same administrative issue that comes up in the US when people want to discuss having a wealth tax.
Princess
@Baud: The way other countries that do have a wealth tax handle it is by taking a small tax of a percentage of total assets. Doesn’t matter if they are gains or if they’re all sitting in a zero interest account, 1% or so is going to the government.
Baud
@Princess:
States have property taxes on real estate in the US. Most homeowners have mortgages so the mortgage company includes the property tax in the monthly payment amount.
satby
Ok, OT but big: deported Guatamalan man has been returned to the US
Princess
@satby: Good.
satby
@Princess: one down, all the rest to go.
YY_Sima Qian
Isn’t the UK’s last steel mill doing under, after its Chinese owner (the latest in a string of owners) failed make it profitable? What steeling the UK exporting to the U.S.?
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@NotMax: I think I read something about that, when Brexit was looming: it went something like this…
*The gist is that if the Crown exercises its veto power over Parliament, Parliament will subsequently change the rules to take away the Crown’s veto power.
sab
@Baud: Remember when we used to have intangible taxes? Taxes on the current fmv of stock portfolios. In Ohio that tax funded our public libraries.
So we got rid of it and shifted the burden to homeowners. Who are now howling because with the recent housing bubble the fmv of their home has shot up even if their cash flow hasn’t. So they risk losing their homes because they can’t pay all the real estate taxes.
In my county real estate taxes fund the public schools (and the charter school bus transportation), child protective services, mental health and addiction services, developmental disability services, metroparks, county government, and bond retirement.
We voted on each amd all those levies, every four years.
An effort is underway statewide to repeal all real estate taxes even though those taxes were approved by local voters. That would wipe out almost every county public service. All we would have left is sales tax revenue.
Baud
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
If the monarch vetoed the bill while wearing a red cap and saying Make Britain Great Again, however, I bet a bunch of knuckleheads would fall for it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Splitting Image:
Yup. That’s exactly what I was thinking by the end and then saw your comment.
Baud
@sab:
I didn’t like having my charm and charisma taxed though. Encouraged me to become grumpy.
stinger
Greatly appreciate your posts, Rose.
satby
People mentioning in the overnight thread that the air seemed smokey brace yourselves. Chicago and western suburbs are in the red zone of air quality index (“unhealthy”), where I am it’s “poor”, and will be in the red zone by tomorrow afternoon and into the weekend. And that’s after several hours of rain to clear the air a bit.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Yeah, I can see how that bill for a buck thirty-seven would have gotten under your skin. ;-)
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
97 cents before tariffs kicked in.
//
mappy!
satby
AirNow, Fire and Smoke Map 4.1
https://fire.airnow.gov/#3.66/42.26/-87.86
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
rikyrah
@satby:
I was shocked to see that we were in the red zone 😳
rikyrah
@satby:
Good👏🏾
rikyrah
Thank you, Rose👏🏾👏🏾
Ohio Mom
@mappy!: That’s a intersting map, thanks.
Another Scott
I increasingly think that (at least my understanding of) TonyJ’s treatise on Starmer is correct. That his number one goal is to destroy any liberal tendencies of Labour. How else can you explain winning a huge majority of the seats (with, what, 31% of the vote?) and not actually quickly implementing popular policies to cement popularity and increase power to start fixing the vast problems in the country??!
Grr…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
montanareddog
As to the OP:
Enoch Powell was not just a Tory MP – he was an opposition frontbencher at the time – the Shadow Defence Secretary. The Leader of the Opposition, Ted Heath, did summarily fire him from that role, to his credit.
@NotMax: are you bonkers? It was an extraordinarily passionate and divisive subject, and 52% of the voters had voted for Brexit. Liz would have provoked riots and probably the abolition of the monarchy if she had attempted to veto the Brexit bill.
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Good point on a “one and done veto”. In reality, I don’t think the monarchy would even use it to veto a bill to abolish the monarchy. Parliamentary sovereignty is a given now
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
That’s a good thing, hopefully it’s just the first such return.
But from your link, Politico says this about it:
Yeah, suuuuure, Politico. The U.S. is paying El Salvador to incarcerate the people we’ve shipped there. If Trump demanded their return, they’d be on the next plane back.
Also, Politico, they’re not ‘deportees.’ They’re people who’ve been thrown in a Third World prison for an indefinite (possibly life) sentence without anything remotely resembling a trial.
Language matters.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@satby: Whoa. That will be hard on some of my neighbors.
Carol
Compared to the US England sounds like nirvana. Who would you rather have than Starmer? And how would he, or she, be different?
I enjoy your columns.
Chris T.
That seems like a lot of weight for Monty to be using. Is he doing deadlifts with that?