How many red wall seats were even up ? I haven’t looked into it but I know all councillors weren’t up Where does 490 come from ? Isn’t it 398 ?
Unsure, but Labour were defending the majority of seats in the first place so the scope for gains was lower which seems to be missed. 490 is the total the BBC has for Great Britain as a whole (341 in England 63 in Scotland 86 in Wales)
Guardian has 398 losses on their top banner and I would expect them to try and show the largest number possible I guess some aren’t council or something? I kind of ask because I saw a suggestion in the week in a video that realistically only 600 or so seats were “competitive” anyway out of circa 1800. This was trying to put a different spin on right wing press fear articles floating the prospect of 600 lost seats - presumably with the intention of being able to jubilantly celebrate when that didn’t happen If true then whether is it almost 400 or almost 500 out of a theoretical 600 - it isn’t good
Labour needs to adopt a neutrality stance in Scotland, but support another independence vote. Let the Tories be the evil unionists on this issue.
I find the polítical map in Northern Ireland interesting with SF and the Alliance party increasing their share of the vote, and the DUP's having dropped. On further investigatión, former DUP voters decided to back the TVU or TUV, Traditional Voice of Ulster, who happen to be even more hardline than the DUP, if that is at all possible. It is staggering that working class voters there support right wing parties. Indeed anywhere, but with the leaders flying the patriótic flag it engenders emotion and support, oñe that the Tories bought into to win the 2019 election in the Red Wall área. Years ago Empire Day was big in these years, so.tapping into patriotism is a useful card to.play.
I feel that Labour should have a central message for the next election. Increase the state pensión and put a figure on it. What is it? Just over 9000 a year at a maximum. I would suggest increasing it to.12000 for every single pensioner initially and raise it to 15000 during the duration of the next Parliament. And how can this be paíd for? A tax on the guys who avoid paying it, clawing back money given to Friends of the Tories on the pretext of providing a service and an increase of a penny or two.on petrol duty.
Cant disagree more on that, a reformed and liberal U.K. has the best chance of providing security and a better quality of life for us all, at least on GB and despite Tory domination in recent years, it is a reasonably possible concept in the future, we shouldn’t gamble it. I would also say if Labour become pro referendum then how much is left to define them from the SNP? An international border on this island would be an absolute farce and to me is more of an ‘evil’ concept, although I wouldn’t go as far as to call it that. For the sake of all of us we can’t allow the Conservatives dominance over unionism, because they would become the face of it.
For practícal reasons.alone, Labour needs to become more pro-indy regarding Scotland. Look how well they have been doing in recent elections there still playing the unionist card. That is the same oñe offered by the Tories. The Greens in Scotland have got the message. As for an international border on these islands, there is oñe - between Northern Ireland and the ROI. Thankfully it is invisible despite the wrecking ball policies of the Tory Government and the bigotry of the DUP. So, if there is ever a day when Scotland becomes independent, I would hope the border is invisible as it is between members of the EU.
The media have no shame. They will publish this and now the entire country will be saying “starmer is just as bad as boris”. Then publish a tiny tiny apology saying they made a mistake. Absolute state of this planet
I have probably posted this before, but IMO the only way to deal with deliberate or “accidental” lies in the media would be for the government to pass a law that dictates that all corrections and apologies should be made in the same manner as the lies were made. So, a front page lie, with a full report covering pages 2,3 & 4 should be corrected in the same way, covering the front page and pages 2, 3 & 4. Same font and print size. If the original lie has been doubled down on, by repetition, then the same correction should be made for the number of days the lie was repeated. And the corrections must state that the original report was a lie Same with televised media. If they show, for example because he is an easy target, Johnson saying something that is later found to be blatantly false, they should be compelled by law to say that he lied. It will never happen because the media is used as a weapon, to deliberately mislead the public, with most of it misleading the public on behalf of the Tory party.
‘The media’ or The Daily Mail? You’re lumping it all together again, and what’s more, you’re doing it on purpose. Claiming to be complaining about misrepresentation by the media, by misrepresenting the media. Do you see the problem?
There's a glorious Trinity, , not just the Mail but the Express and Sun who always "big up" Johnson, regardless of his uselessness. Add in the Telegraph and Times.
You’re saying “The Times” as a default reaction because of the Murdoch link. If you actually read it (which would really help in a lot of these discussions) you’d know that your statement is wildly incorrect.
I tend to read Guardian articles as oñe has to subscribe to.the Times so.you.are right to have a go. What you cannot deny though are the other four publications in their largely overwhelming support of Johnson, these same publications that crucified Major, who was a far more competent.PM.than the slimy creature sitting in Number 10 now.
It's interesting what people's perception of the written media is with regard to political leanings. Using Wiki as an arbitrator, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom it shows that although a majority of papers are to the right it is not overwhelming the left and centrist viewpoints. The circulation figures show that more people read the right wing papers but is that because they are naturally RW and want to read articles they agree with or have been brainwashed by RW propaganda? Whatever it is, England (but maybe not the UK) has moved away from socialism.
Was England ever socialist, really? In my lifetime, the nearest we got was under Harold Wilson's Premiership, 1964-1970. How Labour lost the election in 1970 against a very average Tory leadership in terms of its appeal, is a mystery. Some people point to.the trade figures that came out just prior to that election. Perhaps it was complacency, thinking they would win but managing to lose.
