From Braverman's implied, if you aren't white you aren't English, to the Green's zionism is racism, the UK is in a continuing cycle of culture wars. And it's not good. It started with Conservative austerity, grievances were exploited to push Brexit over the line, and it continued with decline till the last election. Keir Starmer was meant to be the reprieve, a change from all the cuts, but he carried on with cuts e.g. jury service, and while Israel bombed Gaza to smithereens, shocked the world saying starving civilians of food was acceptable in, so much for being a human rights lawyer. The moral decline didn't end there, he suspended his own MPs for a policy a year later he championed, ditched WASPI women despite campaigning with them, and then tragically misused our terrorism legislation, along with Yvette Cooper, the results of which have seen over 3,500 most elderly pensioners arrested for non violent protect, with less than ten arrested for actual criminal behaviour. The country is being hit by the right with a constant onslaught of divisive politics, and instead of Starmer on the left-centred providing a counter narrative, he squandered the opportunity. And it's not just on TV, or in the papers, it's across social media: here, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok. There are so few conversations and exchanges, it's just aggression, and anger, lots of it. Two years after Starmer, what the country needs is a refreshed leadership, but it's lost to the irony of Ed Miliband speaking about Palestinian rights inside the Labour party conference, while over 160 people were arrested/summoned for non violent protest outside the Labour party conference. Yvette Cooper pretended it had nothing to do with her, even though it's her policy, no one could ask Keir Starmer as he quit - like Farage did after Brexit trying to absolve himself of accountability. John Healey when asked also fudged it. Alex Davies-Jones doubled down sayings it is the law. And the enforcer Shabana Mahmood shaming herself like a pound shop Priti Patel. Every step of progress as reflected in Ed Miliband's speech was quashed by Labour's own policy of arresting non-violent protestors. Where's the integrity and moral leadership from Labour? So this is were we are, a country divided, angry, upset, desperate for moral leadership, desperate for investment to rebuild public services underfunded intentionally. Struggling in a cost of living crisis. Frustrated, and angry. While I don't think Andy Burnham went far enough in his otherwise good speech at the Conference e.g. stopping short of nationalising the water industry, until he gets to grips with the causes of division this cycle will continue. We need a better path forward, one where every person in our society feels safe and free to live their lives, where base standards on what is right and wrong are re-enforced by our Prime Minister as a leader, where and decency and integrity take more a front seat than shotgun, and where instead of yet even more cuts to public services or welfare, communities are not alienated or deprived even further. I feel sorry for everyone under 20 who has grown up as this divisiveness has begun to flourish. They do not know a time where such rampant divisiveness and anger did not exist generally in public discourse. And those of us who can remember better times - they weren't perfect, but they were certainly much better than where we are today - we have a duty to do better for ourselves and for the next generation. Because if we don't figure this out now, and fast, it's not rogue AI that will destroy humanity, it'll be humanity itself. There is still a lot of kindness, decency, consideration, love in this world, to avoid such a terrible outcome. This isn't hippy talk, it's sensible pragmatism. But it has to start with change, it has to start from the top - that's you @andyburnham - and it starts by bringing people together on common values, which means you have no option but to undo what Starmer and Cooper did, because until you do, this will continue to be a huge wedge issue, pushing some people into positions that they wouldn't otherwise adopt. To end the extremes you need to recreate the cnetre-ground. Baron Hain rightly observed that Labour is "digging itself into a hole" - and Labour need to find their way out of it. Start from there. Don't continue with more oil and gas whose price we can't control.. Invest in public services. Don't cut welfare. Introduce a wealth tax on the rich with £10m+. Put in place exit and return taxes on any rich person planning to leave such that they can only return if they pay their fair share. Introduce rent controls. Tax excess profits. Hire more actual doctors and nurses. Put safeguards in on AI. Support our farmers to protect our food security. And clean up the cesspit that has become so much of social media. Do the big things that will make a material difference to everyday people's lives. Show the leadership the country desperately needs. Deescalate tensions. Find a common ground where most can come together in peace and solidarity. As Master Yoda said, "Do. Or do not. There is no try."