God. I'm sitting here watching the news about British Steel with a mixture of rage and that weird satisfaction you get when something you predicted actually happens. My mate Dave (who works in manufacturing) texted me last night: "Told you so." Yeah, thanks Dave.
Labour has walked face-first into a steel crisis that anyone with half a brain could see coming from miles away. And they did it to themselves! The whole thing would be almost comical if thousands of jobs weren't hanging in teh balance.
When Ideology Crashes into Reality
Nationalisation should be a last resort. We all know that. But steel isn't just another industry - it's fundamental to our security, our resilience, our entire economic backbone. Yesterday's announcement laid bare the absolute madness driving Labour's approach to steel, and the staggering incompetence that seems baked into their DNA.
They don't have a plan. They never did.
Instead, they're scrambling around like headless chickens looking for solutions while the future of British steelmaking dangles by a thread. I spent 3 years covering manufacturing policy back in 2018, and I've never seen such a spectacular own goal.
History's Cruel Joke
Remember when Neil Kinnock lambasted the stupidity of "hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers"? Well, Labour's eco madness has reached similar heights of self-sabotage.
Red Ed Miliband (whose energy policies I've criticized since forever) shut down our last coal mine months ago. Then - and this is the punchline - they were forced to IMPORT coal from abroad just to keep the Scunthorpe blast furnaces running. His response when questioned about this contradiction? A mumbled non-answer about "transition periods." Poor Ed.
The Net Zero Fantasy
Listen. I'm not some climate change denier. I've got two kids and I want them to inherit a livable planet. But Net Zero in its current form is a fantasy that's crashing into economic reality.
Britain contributes roughly 1% of global emissions. ONE PERCENT. Yet we're willing to sacrifice entire industries on the altar of climate virtue signaling? My editor bet me $20 that Labour would backtrack on their most extreme green policies within a year. I should have taken that bet.
The real solutions will come from businesses innovating, not from government diktat. But that concept seems utterly foreign to Keir Starmer.
Starmer's Parallel Universe
The wheels are coming off for Keir. After breaking over 100 promises since becoming Labour leader (I feel stupid now for believing half of them), he's proven himself the absolute master of saying one thing while doing the opposite.
His latest gem? "The world as we knew it has gone." In some ways he's right - but only because he lives in a completely different world than the rest of us. A world where promises are optional and economic reality is just an inconvenient detail.
He's completely out of touch.
What About That Brexit Opportunity?
It's about time the PM used Brexit to our advantage. We all know Starmer is an arch Remoaner who energetically campaigned for a second referendum and voted to block the UK making its own laws 48 times in Parliament.
But... he's been dealt a decent hand of cards. A US trade deal would be the ultimate prize right now, especially after his Chancellor has absolutely crushed growth prospects. The previous administration laid the groundwork with Trump during his first term, and now he's back in the White House. The appetite for it in Washington is definitely there.
So what's the holdup? Labour ministers seem more focused on hating Trump than helping Britain. They took FIVE MONTHS to even begin face-to-face talks! Meanwhile, they lost Britain's top trade negotiator and wasted time cosying up to the EU with absolutely nothing to show for it.
The Final Straw? Those Punishing Taxes
The final nail in the coffin is Labour's punishing tax regime. Already, we're seeing an exodus of innovators, risk-takers, and entrepreneurs. Not to mention salaries being slashed, 25,000 job losses (and counting), and inflation ticking up again.
Yet Starmer dogmatically ploughs on, his words increasingly divorced from reality.
It's government by press release - style over substance, slogans over solutions. What we desperately need now is honesty about the challenges we face and the courage to make decisions that actually solve them.
I ran into an old colleague from my policy days last week. "How bad is it really?" I asked. His response: "already updating my resume." That tells you everything.
Stuck in the Past
Keir Starmer is stuck in the past. A politician more comfortable recycling old ideas than generating new ones. He hasn't evolved. And unless he does, it's the rest of us who will pay the price: higher taxes, lost jobs, soaring bills, and a weakened economy.
Britain deserves better than managed decline masked as progress.
If Starmer truly believes we're living in a new world... then for God's sake, it's time he started acting like it.
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