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The current shit storm is actually making me more engaged - I'm realising that if I don't make my opinions and views felt and participate, I'll die knowing I made no effort, and that's a bit crap really.
I don't think much of BBC News (even less of BBC Breakfast) and tend to find myself watching France 24 on Freesat.
Can't understand all this talk of BBC Bias...
I'm generally not home when the news is on the TV so never see it, when I do watch TV is recorded programs or catch up. I used to listen to live radio, but got bored of it so listen to podcasts on the way to work.
I generally keep up to date with current affairs by this forum or twitter trending!
There’s absolutely no way that this election compares with 1997; the Tories were routed then by an efficient, effective Labour Party with a charismatic leader. Find ay of those three qualities in the current Labour Party.
"efficient, effective" two words you could never use these days!
I live (and vote) in a safe blue seat.
But I work in (and log in to Facebook within) the neighbouring constituency 7 miles away, which with the current Brexit volatility could conceivably go one of three ways.
Couple that with being a healthy straight white male under 50 with above average education (privilege jackpot, I know) and I am the very definition of swing voter.
the amount of paid promotion / adverts I get is quite ridiculous, contradicting each other within a few inches of phone screen, and contradicting themselves from the previous week.
I don’t read or watch any news. I live in my own ignorant little bubble and I’m very happy.
I can’t stand politics and generally close a thread down on here if it turns political. I read some threads on here and genuinely feel sorry for some folk who can’t reply to any subject without mentioning politics. It’s served me well so far in life.
I have pretty much given up on TV news, rely on twitter to an extent, plus read guardian online, and also browse le Figaro, le monde, independent.ie, and a few others, first two help my French and by using non uk outlets just raises awareness of a wider world.
Revolution? I’m with you if you fancy it.
I'm in!
I've always been interested in politics, and have always read newspapers (of various viewpoints) and watch loads of news and QT. Frankly, these last few years, I couldn't give a flying one now!
All my voting life (since 1977) I've lived in a succession of 'safe seats' of various colours and have come to realise that my vote actually means sweet fa. It'll be another spoilt paper from me, until we get proportional representation or a revolution I have no voice that any of the self serving deluded morons in Westminster will listen to.
I give up!
I was following the election, but as the days have gone on and the dafter its got the less I want to hear. The lies, games and childishness of it all just proves to me that none of them give a shit about us in any way, they only want to make their own worlds better at the cost of everyone else.
The tories threatening Channel 4 with a review of their licence because their leader couldn't be bothered to turn up to a debate on the climate might be the last straw
Burn it all down
The problem I have with news has nothing to do with politics, it's that it's simply not trustworthy - and I don't mean from bias. Over the years, I've seen a few stories/articles where I knew quite a bit about the situation - enough to know that the report was simply inaccurate. A couple of instances are, perhaps, forgivable but when it's happened a few times you have to doubt the veracity of the stuff you don't know much about too.
I vote for the best candidate/person regardless of “party”. You need the “best person for the job”. If you have an MP who has assisted in a positive way anything you, family or friends have asked of that person does it really matter what “party” they belong to?
Neither of my kids(mid/late 30s) Follow the news, buy papers etc and probably have no idea there is an election going on or have any interest🤷♂️ Like many others they see it as all about what’s happening in London, ie the “news” is all about London as I am watching atm!!
If you live in no mans land ie Southbof Glasgow/Edinburgh and Northbof Manchester there is a disconnection IMO.
Question for the engineering thinkers.
If and when the gas is turned off what are all the industries who rely on it expected to do? I’m thinking glass, steel, whisky and plastic industries.
The planting of trees. Will the current rate of felling impact on the mystical plans of all parties?🤷♂️
I scan the headlines on the BBC news app in the morning, just to see if anything monumental has happened - but that's it these days.
I've previously been an avid follower of politics and the news, but (like many, it sounds like) I've come to the conclusion that all "being informed" achieves is to make me utterly miserable about our current situation: Brexit/Trump/the middle east/the environment - the whole lot.
I subscribe to YourGuitarHero's approach - and am focusing my energies on things to can influence, instead of fretting about things I can't.
Completely selfish I know, but the only measurable difference in outcome of this approach is that I am happier.
IIRC, I gave up on the BBC for news back in the noughties when Bliar and his government took the beeb to task for telling some sort of truth, I can’t recall exactly the topic, suffice to say it then dawned on me that the news machine irrespective of which outlet, was a propaganda machine. Since then, my attitude has been very much a ‘what will be will be’ approach which has resulted in me paying very little attention to the ‘news’ on any platform.
Having said that, I’ve been reading much in relation to this GE, as I feel this is possibly one of the most important GE’s in my lifetime, my first GE was 1983.
Like many of you, I live in a very safe Tory manor, I’ll still vote against the Tory candidate but I do feel like my vote makes sod all difference to the local and national outcome and as long as we remain with this sham of a democratic process of first past the post, ultimately an individuals vote makes little difference.
Unfortunately the reality in this country is personal greed and gain. The only way Labour has managed to secure power in the last 40 years was to effectively become red right of centre conservatives. People in this country don’t want to share, don’t want to make community more important than the individual and don’t want to lose any personal wealth, no matter how unreal it is.
I don’t think much of BBC News (even less of BBC Breakfast) and tend to find myself watching France 24 on Freesat
The on line articles and radio are pretty good, the t.v. has become over simplified and poor I agree. It feels at the level of news round by John craven. ITV news is like the daily mail on tv. The entire channel is to be honest.
I think a large amount of complaints I see about BBC articles are problems with people's comprehension. I sometimes read the comments and the complaints in them make me laugh as frequently people are complaining that the BBC said X when the article did not say X, or as in today the BBC was reporting on a conclusion of a report and people were blaming the BBC for the results of the report! People seem to lack the basic comprehension in reading and extracting information.
People in this country don’t want to share, don’t want to make community more important than the individual and don’t want to lose any personal wealth, no matter how unreal it is
I think labours problem is they follow a us and them attitude. "It's their fault", "they should pay" etc. They ar not saying we all need to pay more it's allot our problem, the rich will pay more but we all need to pay more. Responsibility is always put on someone else. Our FPTP system mean doesn't help but that's a different subject.
I vote for the best candidate/person regardless of “party”. You need the “best person for the job”. If you have an MP who has assisted in a positive way anything you, family or friends have asked of that person does it really matter what “party” they belong to?
This is another odd one imo. I get why you do this but it is a national election so the party member will largely do what the party whips for. Local issues should be voted for on local elections, national issues on national elections. This confusion of rolls of the election allows support to be claimed on national level because of a MP doing a good job on some local issue.
Daily news comes at you so fast and seems so stressful at the moment that I've found I need to tune it out day-to-day.
My compromise is to read a weekly - mostly The Economist.
This is another odd one imo. I get why you do this but it is a national election so the party member will largely do what the party whips for. Local issues should be voted for on local elections, national issues on national elections. This confusion of rolls of the election allows support to be claimed on national level because of a MP doing a good job on some local issue.
And the flipside being that people vote for their local councillors based on whether they prefer Corbyn or Johnson, not based on who would be best to organise the bin collections and road repairs.
+1 for the Economist.
Truthful reporting backed by evidence
The problem I have with news has nothing to do with politics, it’s that it’s simply not trustworthy – and I don’t mean from bias. Over the years, I’ve seen a few stories/articles where I knew quite a bit about the situation – enough to know that the report was simply inaccurate. A couple of instances are, perhaps, forgivable but when it’s happened a few times you have to doubt the veracity of the stuff you don’t know much about too.
Which is a dangerous place to be as you go looking for alternatives that are invariably far more biased and free of scrutiny than their mainstream counterparts (looking at the likes of The Ferret here).
What does my head in is the complete inability of politicians to answer a simple question with either a simple answer or just say they don't know. Instead they filibuster and talk utter pish and then smugly say they are answering the question when they are clearly talking about something else. Gove and Abbot are two that just get switched off as I know they will never say anything of substance.
Gove and Abbot are two that just get switched off as I know they will never say anything of substance.
I quite like listening to Gove being interviewd, not that I agree with pretty much anything he says, but he's clearly got some smarts and he's pretty quick-witted. Abbott though, she must have some smarts to have been in the game for as long as she has but it doesn't come across, she just sounds condescending and evasive.
I quite like listening to Gove being interviewd, not that I agree with pretty much anything he says, but he’s clearly got some smarts and he’s pretty quick-witted.
yeah I have a grudging respect for Gove - IIRC he grew up in a fairly working class, lefty household, went to a comp, did well and got himself to Oxford. So he arrived at his political beliefs of his own free will, and got to an elite uni on merit rather than daddy's money.
Fortunately, as soon as this grudging respect shows any signs of getting out of hand, he pops up and says something so ****ish I am cursing his bastard name from the rooftops once more
The Gove does have a rare skill in that he can sound almost credible until the very moment he just reverts to being Gove and then I want to slap his face with a stinky haddock. Repeatedly, until it's impossible to determine if he's a fish or a man. Then repeat for another hour... minimum.
I'll bet his adoptive parents are really angry; way, way beyond disappointed with him.
Gove's got that 'I’m the smartest kid in the school so you better listen to me’ attitude. Unfortunately its pretty effective in bringing out the worst in interviewers who either interrupt him or lose their tempers and say something stupid, so he can play the bias card. It’s exactly the same approach that Jeffery Archer used to use, although he managed to do it with a tad more charm than the smarm Gove uses.
At least he is willing to talk to voters our MP to be doesn’t seem to have come within 200 miles of her constituency to be, although she will still get a massive majority (I’m assuming she did at least came to an interview so perhaps she has met at least 10 of her constituents).
I quite like listening to Gove being interviewd, not that I agree with pretty much anything he says, but he’s clearly got some smarts and he’s pretty quick-witted.
Yeah, he's sharp, I rate him.
Abbott though, she must have some smarts to have been in the game for as long as she has but it doesn’t come across, she just sounds condescending and evasive.
She's Oxbridge too and was a pretty good commentator on This Week - I really enjoyed her input on that. I think the problem she has selling momentum is that she's not stupid so her brain is constantly working ahead thinking "nobody's gonna buy this" and it utterly ties her up. I'm the same myself presenting stuff I don't believe in. She didn't strike me as especially talented back in the Blair days but I don't recall that she was a total car crash either.
There was a Stephen Collins cartoon in the Guardian what seems like an eternity ago, in a more innocent, less batshit pre-Brexit age, which pretty much nailed Gove and his preening self-regard
am focusing my energies on
things to can influence, instead of fretting about things I can’t.Completely selfish I know, but the only measurable difference in outcome of this approach is that I am happier.
Not so fast. Happy and positive people effect those around them. ‘Measurable’ as far as happiness is ‘measurable’
Have noticed a direct correlation. The more negative media I digest, the more toxic I become to both self and (by extension) all around. Once went off-grid for a good while. Transformative. I seemed to do more positive things for myself, for the environment and for others. And more often. Long time ago now, and can feel the limescale is building once again. Internet/info addiction.
#workingonit
I think the problem she has selling momentum is that she’s not stupid so her brain is constantly working ahead thinking “nobody’s gonna buy this” and it utterly ties her up. I’m the same myself presenting stuff I don’t believe in.
This is a fair point that I hadn't considered.