Patsy Trench

#Author. Actress (back in the Jurassic period), lyricist, theatre teacher, occasional tour organiser.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@frankcottrell_b Well said @frankcottrell_b.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@PaulSuttonKing St Albans?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

Well said

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@Peston I wish all this would stop. Leave the man alone.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

Couldn't agree more.

[ClareT with Ukraine heart and soul 💪 @ClareTa97789912]

Today it is time to say
Don’t change our PM
Keep our country stable
Stop the media frenzy
It is as simple as this
Then Starmer press on with the recommended changes to bring back trust in our politics

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@RpsAgainstTrump @campbellclaret Looks like Led By Donkeys' work.😀

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@tom_nuttall What's with the penguin?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@campbellclaret Well said. His aim is clearly to be headline news every day and the media seem only too eager to help him achieve it.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@AlexTaylorNews @BBCRosAtkins Looks pretty conclusive to me. Is ICE going to post their version of events?

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

London crime: fear vs data.

It has big problems - like any city. But our nation's capital is cleaner, calmer and safer than perhaps any time in living memory.

[The Independent @Independent]

A woman dubbed the ‘MAGA Granny’, who refused a pardon for her part in the January 6 insurrection, made an emotional apology during a hearing to mark the fifth anniversary of the Capitol riot.
Pamela Hemphill addressed Capitol Police officers who were serving during the 2021 attacks at the House January 6 panel which was reconvened by Democrats to hear from witnesses and lawmakers about the events of that day.
The original panel was disbanded in 2023 with recommendations Trump be prosecuted on four federal charges.
Upon starting his second term in 2025, Trump pardoned or commuted sentences for 1500 people charged over the attack. Hemphill refused her pardon.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@campbellclaret @WilliamEllisSch My son's old school too. 🙂 (Older than your son I think.)

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@BBCNews How much longer is this man going to be allowed to stand up and talk utter rubbish?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@FraserNelson Are there not rules about this kind of thing?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@David__Osland @chasharris Yes indeed. And who paid for this?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

RIP to one of the cleverest funny people ever.

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

American musical satirist Tom Lehrer dies at 97, US media report https://t.co/P53TNVEp9J

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

Couldn't agree more.

[Anna Soubry 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇦🇪🇺🖤🤍 @Anna_Soubry]

The #BBC is giving a hugely disproportionate of air time to #Reform
They seem to have conveniently forgotten there are 72 Lib Dem MPs
9 SNP
5 DUP
5 Reform
4 Green
4 Plaid Cymru
It’s not as if they are holding #Reform to account - just giving them free air time.

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@TheStage @David_Suchet But how about honouring a female playwright for a change, such as Caryl Churchill?

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

Hooray!

[The Stage @TheStage]

Judi Dench, @David_Suchet and Sienna Miller are among high-profile performers backing a campaign to rename the West End’s Duchess Theatre after prolific playwright Terence Rattigan 👇 https://t.co/9cRXWoEB8P

[Patsy Trench @PatsyTrench]

@Independent Agree totally.