(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Join the conversation: Readers’ thoughts on Keir Starmer [1] [] Date: 2024-06 Our decision to publish two diverging opinion pieces on the case for and against Keir Starmer over the past week prompted several thoughtful and passionate emails. As openDemocracy’s editor-in-chief, I was guided by our stated aim of platforming “free thinking for the world”, which in this case meant carrying both sides of a political argument ahead of a vital general election next month. Arguments over Starmer’s virtues and shortcomings are likely to intensify if Labour wins the election. Irrespective of the outcome, you can be sure that we will continue to publish hard-hitting investigations to hold the government of the day to account, and opinion pieces from a wide range of authors that help us make sense of these turbulent times. These will not necessarily reflect openDemocracy’s editorial stance, but seek to challenge our views and encourage healthy debate. Thank you for reading and supporting us. These comments have been edited for clarity, accuracy and length, and don’t necessarily reflect openDemocracy's editorial position. Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now Re: Opinion: The left has a choice: unite behind Starmer or face Farage rising to power Keir Starmer isn't really interested in the left’s goals, he’s worked hard to expel anyone who is left-wing and prepared to voice their thoughts. Starmer is more concerned about the ability of corporations to make a profit than he is about clean water, clean environment, green energy, public health care, education for all and human rights for all. –Mary Fair enough. As I live in an ex-mining constituency that went from solid Labour to Tory in 2019, I am pretty desperate to get rid of that braying donkey (just watch him in the House of Commons) that is Jonathan Gullis, so I am very tempted to vote Labour. However, various polls suggest that Gullis will lose his seat to Labour by a landslide in July, so I feel able, safely, to vote for the Green candidate standing for the first time, even though he is an unknown, just to give them some encouragement and feel that I am not entirely dis-enfranchised. –Richard I respect openDemocracy for publishing this view from Paul Mason, with which I totally disagree. I do hope that oD will publish an article with a counter view, one that highlights the grave threat that Starmer poses to progressive policies to make our country a fairer society. –Andrew (Editor’s note: We did publish a counter view, which you can read here.) openDemocracy is to be highly commended as a platform for a wide range of perceptive topics and views. It is therefore unfortunate to see that those of Paul Mason are given space. –William The analysis in this article is half-baked and half-complete, and based entirely on England’s political landscape. Entirely ignoring the rest of the UK and operating purely as a British/English nationalist entity is strange from ‘the left’. The choice is only Starmer or Nigel Farage if you allow it to be… or you could actually challenge that cosy consensus that Starmer is happy for you not to challenge, and actually try to speak to and convince the electorate. –Peter Starmer is a dictatorial and authoritarian labour leader. Labour policies are now truly Tory-lite. The time to stop the rise of the right was when Starmer sabotaged Labour’s ‘respect’ Brexit policy and ensured labours defeat in 2019. Now?! God help us all. Labour will probably win and that may very well lead to people voting Farage especially as the mainstream media gives him air time but not the socialist alternatives. –Susan Read the original story here. Gaza vs Ukraine: A double standard that has broken the world order Conflating the circumstances in Gaza and Ukraine is counterproductive. Ukraine is simply being invaded. Ukraine is on the border of the EU and Russia is on the border of several EU states. So the reaction from Western powers would always be significant as it represents real and present danger. The conflict in Gaza combines out of control religious zealots on both sides, with Israeli intelligence, money and propaganda well and trully imbeded in all "western" countries. The article wants to paint "western" countries as sold on the support of Israel. And that is simply not true. Israel has too much influence and control in Western countries being the primary problem here. –‘PilipDilip’ Read the original story here. Have more thoughts? Sign up to our newsletters today! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/readers-thoughts-keir-starmer-paul-mason-general-election/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/