Juliet Samuel on talking about families…
“… speakers at last week’s National Conservatism conference were widely mocked for talking about marriage and family, on the grounds that this might exclude or shame single mothers. Even if one assumes the existence of non-nuclear families precludes talking about the benefits of conventional ones, which it shouldn’t, this misses the point. The problem isn’t single mothers; it’s men who abandon or abuse them. When some on the right talk of “bringing back shame” to contain human excess, they should be careful to make sure it is deadbeat males who are the target, not the women.”
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”