"Patriotic national renewal" is Labour's "flagship" policy. And the "flags" are literal. Labour's conference hall was bedecked with them.
Delegates even got given a full selection - Union Jacks, English, Welsh and Scottish flags - to wave during Starmer's speech. And David Lammy sported a small vintage National Front badge - oops, Union Jack - on his lapel.
What a sorry sight. And all in aid of trying to prove who "loves" Britain more: Starmer's Labour, or Nigel Farage''s Reform! "What a load of malarkey"! Yes, it's the politics of the playground. It would be laughable if this "patriotic turn" didn't actually determine the policies which rule all our lives - or are meant to...
Indeed, ever since the election, when Reform pushed the Tories into the wilderness, it is Farage's Reform and his preoccupation with blaming immigrants and refugees for being the cause of decaying capitalism's ills, which has dictated Labour's political choices.
As if attacking immigrants and removing their rights - and their bodies - is going to somehow secure anything, let alone an economy which is inextricably linked to a world capitalist economy in serious decline.
Starmer hypocritically calls Reform's politics divisive, but his new Home Secretary has doubled to 10 years the qualification period for "indefinite leave to remain". One could well ask, "who's the racist now?"...
Of course the "old working class" base of the Labour Party is not taking lightly this adaptation to the right. So to try to keep them on board Starmer tried hard to prove that, after 14 months in government, he's "flagged up" all kinds of achievements "for workers". Like that highly diluted Employment Rights Bill, like the "hope" of new homes, maybe in b years' time, like the fading mirage of an efficient NHS, and like a "renationalised railway" which looks as if it will stay subcontracted to the private sector...
But back here on earth, living standards are falling, and the cost of everything is going up... And all Starmer can do is to repeat that it's all going to come right because of his "economic growth" initiatives?
It's true that private companies are doing very well. The FTSE100 reached another record high on Tuesday. And while the government's "cupboard" remains empty when it comes to the rest of us, it just found a £1.5bn subsidy for the "hacked" JLR! Indeed, when the bosses' profits are at stake, the Chancellor's "strict financial rules" are promptly relaxed!
To help the bosses screw yet more out of the working class, the new patriotic party, aka "Labour", wants us to quietly accept the attacks on jobs, wages and conditions - and the scape-goating of migrant workers - in the name of "Britishness"... Well, no! Our "country" is our international class; we won't lie back and "think of England"; we'll unite to fight back!