UK Election June 08

[peejaye]

I didn't know you were from the US Bronco?
The media here are bias during the Election, it's very simple. The media is a huge part of "The Establishment" here and Corbyn is anti-Establishment, that's the "Top & bottom" of it. By "The Establishment" I mean The Royal Family, The House of Lords, The Political system, Public schools like Eton(in Royal Windsor) the "Ox-bridge" (Oxford/Cambridge) University elite, & of course the great British Broadcasting Company, known as the BBC, awash with people, many on one day per week contracts earning telephone number salaries! I could go on but will spare you, basically a system for the upper classes born into money, around 5% of the entire UK population but speaking out for all of us!

[Stavros]

This morning Theresa May 'clarified' the party position on social care, having suffered over the weekend as some people clearly didn't understand it (Jeremy Corbyn was one of them) and others then realised that is was viewed as a hostile act against the very age group assumed to be safe Tory voters, ie anyone over 60 with a house worth more than £100,000. There was no cap, now there is a cap, there was a 'dementia tax' now there isn't.

It is probably too complex to lay out in full (see the first link below), but the point is that both the main parties have been exposed as inept in presenting their policies to the public. Blue Labour with fabulous policies at great expense, the Red Tories with policies without costs at all, unless you believe Boris Johnson who, when asked about the promise his campaign made in the EU Referendum, that leaving the EU would give the UK an extra £350 miilion a week to spend on the NHS, claimed this is in the manifesto, though only he can see it. Labour's defence spokesperson says they will renew Trident, the shadow Foreign Secretary says it is under review. Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green stated categorically on Sunday there will be no review of the social care policy, on Monday morning, Theresa May said there will be...

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a7746516.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7747376.html

[Jericho]

But Mrs May rejected claims she was making any sort of U-turn, telling reporters that “nothing has changed”.

You can add that one to 'strong and stable' and 'strengthen my hand'!

[Jericho]

In fairness, it has to be said, haven't seen a lot of tory bias today.
A step too far right?

[Stavros]

In fairness, it has to be said, haven't seen a lot of tory bias today.
A step too far right?

Exactly, they made a mess of their social care proposals and there is nowhere to hide from it. One hopes that Andrew Neil will, in a manner of speaking, stick it to Mrs May at 7pm on BBC1 tonight. He doesn't usually let politicians get away with lame excuses, or makes them look silly when they do.

In the meantime the Green Party has issued its manifesto with its 'Green Guarantee' that includes a universal basic income, a four-day working week (max 35 hours), tax reform to squeeze more from the rich (a 'Robin Hood' tax). They will abolish tuition fees, and return the railways to public ownership, invest in local rail networks at the expense of HS2, and cancel all airport expansion. They will cancel the Trident missile programme, develop an ethical foreign policy based on conflict resolution rather than war, and halt the sale of arms to 'oppressive regimes'. They will pass an Environmental Protection Act, engage in public works programmes for warmer homes and flood control, and begin phasing out fossil fuels with the wider growth of alternative and renewable energy sources.
This and much more here-
https://www.greenparty.org.uk/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...nifesto-launch

[Jericho]

I was watching the leader of the Welsh Greens on TV, Sunday morning. He was very matter of fact, "If we retain our deposits, it's a victory", sort of thing. I remain unconverted, but I liked him, spoke a lot of sense.

[peejaye]

According to Yahoo; this is the latest polling figures in Wales;

LAB 44%+9
CON 34%-7
PC 9%-2
LD 6%-1
UKIP 5%+1

Up the Welsh!

[Jericho]

According to Yahoo; this is the latest polling figures in Wales;

LAB 44%+9
CON 34%-7
PC 9%-2
LD 6%-1
UKIP 5%+1

Up the Welsh!

I'll give it as much credence as any other poll (betting odds are the ones to watch), but it is nice to know some of the stroppy druids around here are getting their act together!

[broncofan]

But what if you've no outlet for that message, or those outlets are trying to fuck you, even when they do give you a voice?

Granted, there are a few biased the other way, the Canary for instance, but i really don't think you could class them as mainstream media.
Interesting little piece from the canary

Fair enough. The sentence you quoted is a fiction people tell you to get you to focus on the things you have most control over. As you say it's by no means a certainty that media bias cannot alter an election outcome.

But it's such a complicated issue because often the media are playing off perceptions people already have. So they start with the premise that their readers view Corbyn one way and then do anything to perpetuate the narrative because it already has traction and people like stories. In our elections our unfair narratives have targeted Al Gore, the eye-rolling intellectual who took credit for things he didn't do, John Kerry, the stiff patrician who vainly attempted to appeal to real Americans by talking about how much he loves sashimi. And you have Corbyn, the mealy-mouthed radical who can't give a straight statement, when in fact he's being asked questions that have complicated and multifaceted answers. So I've seen this kind of attack...it has nothing to do with the issues.

Maybe the answer is to have your own outlets, but you risk preaching to the choir, and when you try to convert the centrists they see you as being just as partisan as the other guys. And I think it's a trap if you find yourself pitted against people who you have small political differences with because you can't distinguish the people who criticize someone in good faith and those who are engaged in a smear campaign. Truthfully if you've concluded 70% of the public are acting in bad faith, you can't win anyway.

[broncofan]

And I think it's a trap if you find yourself pitted against people who you have small political differences with because you can't distinguish the people who criticize someone in good faith and those who are engaged in a smear campaign. Truthfully if you've concluded 70% of the public are acting in bad faith, you can't win anyway.

This is not directed at you, just a general statement.