Starmer said in his televised speech on 29 July:
“Meanwhile, our message to the terrorists of Hamas is unchanged and unequivocal. They must immediately release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza. We will make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met these steps.”
That has now changed. He said today the release of hostages is a “long standing demand, and we are working with others to do everything we can to get those hostages released… We are going to have to assess, in September, all of the factors in relation to recognition, but this is effectively a pathway to recognition.” Jonathan Reynolds was more stark on the BBC:
“Hamas is a terrorist organisation and we don’t put conditions on them because we don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
That is a complete U-turn and also nonsensical because the UK regularly makes demands of Hamas. Falling apart…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”