The Politics Thread

If I were in charge of a broadcaster, there's two things I would do with the debates: firstly I'd give her the empty chair treatment, because if her attitude is she doesn't want to appear on a debate and nobody can make her that does not mean the opposition should not be allowed to have a voice; secondly I'd front-load the debate with subjects that the Tories have no answer for - the NHS, education, austerity, their callous treatment of the disabled, and if the story has continued to grow I'd throw in the electoral fraud from the 2015 election - for the simple reason that it would take the Narrative of the election away from Tory Central Office.

 

I'd get someone in that's a known Tory supporter, but who's a complete idiot.
Don't want to represent yourselves? Then we'll pick someone to do it for you.

 

Failing that, does HIGNFY still have the tub of lard that filled in for Roy Hattersley?

Meanwhile, a few more people are weighing in on May's cowardice...

 

How is that a headline?!

 

It's also very stupid. As it fails ( pun intended) to realise that May might now consider the hardliners in her own party as the saboteurs.

 

Great, another visit to the polling booth.
My money is on a reduced Tory majority or hung parliament.

 

"Trust me with the snap election" says the swivel-eyed mentalist who, by calling a snap election, proves she can't be trusted.

Also...

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Pilfered from the Grauniad's comment section...

The parallels with Orwell's prophetic 1984 are chilling. Electronic digital media with embedded spy software is already with us; phone hacking is a very simple technical feat; systematic character assassination of anyone or any organisation seen as a threat to the position of the rich elite now firmly in control of the monetary system; the national broadcaster following and amplifying the editorial message from the Daily Mail and ensuring that the people never get to hear opposition voices except through the filter of the carefully edited soundbite or 'summary' by 'our political editor'; and now this.

If you oppose the headlong rush out of the EU and the bonfire of regulations protecting the environment, workplace, human and civil rights that will follow, you, my friend, are a saboteur.

For a national newspaper to effectively declare war on the 63% of the electorate that didn't vote for economic suicide; and the 75% of voters that didn't vote for the Tories at the last general election (still two thirds of voters if you take away the kippers), should be a clarion call to all those in Britain who value freedom of thought and expression to oppose Theresa May and her supporters.

This election is not about Brexit, it is about whether or not you want to live in a free country or one where a single party controls everything and systematically dismantles the welfare state.

 

The usual rubbish. This election is about the same thing as every other one :

The individual getting off their arse, going to a polling booth, and making their
vote COUNT regardless of what they believe in.

 

Except it clearly isn't, because if it was why didn't Theresa May stick to her repeated utterances of not calling an election, or for that matter her initial claims she would fulfill the fixed term parliament? There's countless suggestions why, not least the oft-suggested one that the after effects of invoking Article 50 would really start to bite in 2019 (i.e. right before the end of the fixed term) which would likely see the Tories slung out in droves, or for that matter the other oft-repeated suggestion that it's an attempt to steer the Narrative away from the Tories suddenly having to deal with a couple of dozen by-elections due to a slight case of their MPs being prosecuted for electoral fraud.

Look at the front pages and the Narrative for the election is writ large - and it;s not just the Mail unwittingly sounding Orwellian

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If you (enough of the electorate) believe the above to be true, then your day of
reckoning for Theresa May and the Tories has come 3 years early.

So a UK electoral turnout matching the levels of the Scotland/EU referenda ... ?? <QED>

 

The chance of anyone's vote COUNTING is ludicrously small. I calculated slightly over 4,000,000 of 30.5 million votes cast (I can explain if anyone is interested).

Incidentally, here's a poll inviting the PM to a TV debate:
https://www.change.org/p/theresa-ma...fication&utm_campaign=petition_signer_receipt

 

The size of the UK electorate is estimated to be around 47 million.
Given that is 50% more additional votes than your votes cast count,
how many of them will actually make a difference ??

 

In fairness, none of these buggers can be trusted...

Corbyn whilst a backbencher practically voted against every EU directive yet now campaigns to stay in (apparently).
For months, May repeatedly states she won't call a snap general election and doesn't like playing political games, yet pulls this cunning stunt.

As for televised debates, they're so rehearsed and contrived that I see little point in having them. I've seen enough insincere, puppet show US TV debates to make me vomit. And besides, May and Corbyn exchange views in the house, day in day out on national TV so what's the difference exactly?

 

May's logic is cynical, but easy to understand.

She knows she will win this election, and almost certainly with an increased majority. So, she figures there's nothing to be gained by live debate.

Plus, of course, she's not bright or erudite enough. Very good at reading speeches and sound bites that have been pre prepared for her, but thinking on her feet, responding to pointed or difficult questions immediately - nah, she'd tie herself in knots.

 

I would say that the stuff in the house is during the working hours so people who are genuinely interested probably won't be able to hear any of it as they will be working

 

Oh look, the Narrative strikes again...

Yesterday it was a "blow" to Corbyn that a Blairite said they will step down after the election
Today we learn that George Osborne is stepping down as MP for Tatton after the election, but is that a "blow" to Ol' Swivel-Eyes? Of course it isn't, how dare you imply such nonsense!

The obvious issue is the sheer volume of the electorate who believe what they're told by Murdoch and Dacre, and that's what the front pages of the Sun and Mail are clearly designed to do: a vote for anyone but Theresa May is a vote to remain in the EU, and the EU is bad so that would make anyone who votes Labour/Lib Dem/SNP/Green/Plaid Cymru a "saboteur" and, therefore, an enemy of the people and/or state.

Elections have become an IQ test, and based on recent evidence the UK is somewhere in the Forrest Gump range.

The obvious difference is that, in a TV debate, May would have to actually answer questions put to her - something she never does at PMQs, instead falling back on pre-written answers that have nothing to do with the question or, far more often, slinging mud.

 

Dennis Skinner asked the question that none of the media thought was worth asking today

Will the Prime Minister give a guarantee that no Tory MP who is under investigation by the police and legal authorities over election expenses in the last general election be a candidate in this election? Because if she won’t accept that, this is the most squalid election campaign that has happened in my lifetime.

So what was Ol' Swivel-Eyes' response? Was it strong, or brave, or showed the sort of leadership she promises for this country? Well...no.

I stand by all the Conservative MPs in this house and who will be out there, standing again, campaigning for a Conservative government that will give a brighter and better future for this country.

Can't think of any way that response could possibly come back to haunt her...

 

1984?
1983, perhaps. For Michael Foot, read Jeremy Corbyn.
However rational their arguments, left wing eccentrics/hippies don't win elections.

 

Only thing I like about Russia is the music!

Trump and Pukin..Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb Dumb..Two of a kind.

Funny how Pukin no longer likes Trump. You got him in,Pukin. Now get him out!