[Closed] Is May about to call an election?

Strangely ( well not that strange actually ) the only successful papers are those of the centre and the right of centre - those to the left only stay alive with a trust fund/rich Russian sugar daddy. Where people have a choice, they choose The Times, Telegraph, Mail - which is why the left hate a free press.

There are no more left-leaning papers in circulation. The Independent is a bizarre mix of clickbait, propped up by the occasional penetrating insight from the Middle East by their only remaining credible "real" journalists (Fisk and Cockburn). The Guardian has been centrist / liberal for a number of years now.

The real reason why the UK's most popular papers are right / centre right is that the people who still buy newspapers tent to be older and thus more right-leaning.

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Ah, good....must be election time.

The only occasion it's fine and dandy to take the mickey and wish ill of the old.....because you know, they vote Tory and so don't matter or some such bitter nonsense spouted by people who would seem to want the vote restricted to only 16-50 yr olds.....and then only if their views are deemed 'correct' by some unbeknownst arbiter that decides these things.

Weird, heaven forbid these oldies should work and pay tax all their lives only to have some bellend on STW decide their vote shouldn't matter.

FWIW I think the simple answer is that, if the intention is to "stop the Tories" (or at least limit their majority), then just vote Labour.

Not true. For me voting libdem is more likely to reduce the number of Tories by one than voting labour would.

The point of that spreadsheet is to show what is the sensible vote for a given constituency if your aim is to defeat the Tories.

Not true. For me voting libdem is more likely to reduce the number of Tories by one than voting labour would.

Me too, although LibDems went down in 2015 they were way higher than Labour in 2010 so I am feeling they will go back to their 2010 position while Labour fall.
Although I am wasting my time with any vote as the Tory has been there for 20 years and gets around 60% of the vote every time but that's democracy...

Interesting that the Mail's headline is a quote from Lenin.

Although I am wasting my time with any vote as the Tory has been there for 20 years and gets around 60% of the vote every time but that's democracy...

So needs a swing but not unreasonable if somebody can give people reasons.

You haven't talked to people in the New Forest much have you.

And that would be quite a swing as second in 2015 was UKIP with 16%. Labour and LibDems are hovering around 10%. Still I will be voting.

deviant - Member
Ah, good....must be election time.

The only occasion it's fine and dandy to take the mickey and wish ill of the old.....because you know, they vote Tory and so don't matter or some such bitter nonsense spouted by people who would seem to want the vote restricted to only 16-50 yr olds.....and then only if their views are deemed 'correct' by some unbeknownst arbiter that decides these things.

Weird, heaven forbid these oldies should work and pay tax all their lives only to have some bellend on STW decide their vote shouldn't matter.

Actually deviant, you bring up a good point. The old folk did a lot in the past, but they have less to do with the future simply because of their remaining life expectancy.

Therefore a system should be instituted where by a vote is weighted based on remaining life expectancy - anyone predicted to die within one parliamentary term gets no vote.

Seems fair.

Yes they paid taxes, but now they are the country's biggest drain on benefits - so that evens out.

Strangely ( well not that strange actually ) the only successful papers are those of the centre and the right of centre - those to the left only stay alive with a trust fund/rich Russian sugar daddy. Where people have a choice, they choose The Times, Telegraph, Mail - which is why the left hate a free press

so the left are essentially cheapskates who won't pay for the news?

The real reason why the UK's most popular papers are right / centre right is that the people who still buy newspapers tent to be older and thus more right-leaning

so why aren't the freebie newspapers left wing? all that pent up left wing target market for the advertisers.....

So anyone fancy a sweepstake on who will promise £350 million for the NHS?

so the left are essentially cheapskates who won't pay for the news?

Sound economic sense if you ask me.

So anyone fancy a sweepstake on who will promise £350 million for the NHS?

I'm waiting to see who paints it on the side of a bus*.

*paid for out of central campaign expenses but spending most of its time in a small number of constituencies

so why aren't the freebie newspapers left wing? all that pent up left wing target market for the advertisers.....

In physical form, local rags generally don't report anything worthwhile, and those that do cater for the older population. The Metro is just another mouthpiece for the nazi sympathisers.

Online however, the Indy, I, and Guardian remain free. The only way the Mail's website is profitable is its endless click bait and sidebar of shame.

igm....beautiful thread, first the left screeching against a free press and now decision making on whether someone has the vote based on weighing up one life against another.
Truly lovely stuff, and yet it's the Tories who are the 'nasty' party?!
Sticking a finger in and choosing who is and isn't entitled to vote borders on rigging and a small elite (again appointed by who?) deciding on outcomes instead of proper democracy where everyone gets to vote....if you don't like that life expectancy has increased in recent decades and may continue to do so (leading to the assumption of Tory bias in the electorate) then move somewhere with a younger population and higher birthrate.....otherwise try to understand that a government is there to represent the electorate and if the electorate happens to be older Tory voters then that's the government you'll get.

You don't have to like it but proposing restrictions like some would seem to wish lends validity to taking back the vote from other groups too....maybe the unemployed for starters, after all they're a drain on society as you so nicely put retired people's contribution earlier on?....how about stay at home parents?....maybe people who weren't born in the UK?, as they've spent some of their productive years abroad so can't contribute as much to the UK and once you weigh one vote against another based on this fact it becomes easy....in fact I reckon if the spiteful left really tried they could come up for a rational argument that ends in dictatorship based on weighing one life against another, an individual's contribution to society, life expectancy etc..who needs an annoying electorate anyway?!

which is why the left hate a free press

No, they don't.

You have to remember there's more than one kind of left. The tolerant, rational, open-minded compassionate liberal type of leftie hates what the right wing gutter press publishes, not that they are allowed to publish it.

Reading what you want to see deviant?

It is not for the Prime Minister, or anyone else to dictate what the press should write. That is the point of the free press.

Who said she should be dictating the press?
If she can find time to condemn the national trust (for doing something her party has been pushing eg partnerships with commercial organisations) I would have thought she could have found time to say she disagreed with the Mail for headlines such as todays or, the far worse, enemies of the people one.

Reading what you want to see deviant?

The right (MPs, press, internet heroes etc) just like stoking the politics of fear and hate

sadly it seems to work well

people do become more right wing as they age, so as our demographics shift I suppose we will see more of Mail's style of intolerant, nationalistic - actually lets call a spade a spade - [b]fascist[/b] 'journailism' like that lovely headline up there

I suppose for some its something to celebrate

It is not for the Prime Minister, or anyone else to dictate what the press should write. That is the point of the free press.

She doesn't have to dictate, but she can condemn things where she disagress with them. Like she did for the national trust easter non-issue.

No GBP chart today kimbers ? I was expecting daily updates.

She doesn't have to dictate, but she can condemn things where she disagress with them. Like she did for the national trust easter non-issue.

Given the list of things that she hasn't condemned, it's unsurprising that she didn't condemn the newspaper coverage.

Worse than the "crush the saboteurs" headline was the Sun's "Blue Murder". Do they not remember the murder of Jo Cox? A guy in Durham has just been arrested for compiling a hit list of Councillors to kill...

Wow. This twunt will get oldtalents vote...

allthepies - Member
No GBP chart today kimbers ? I was expecting daily updates.

I havent checked

Im guessing that Mays predicted landslide giving her a chance for the softest of brexits has done the £ good though, her comments on the today programme will have helped back that up too

The Norway model was always my 2nd choice!

Every election our local Tory scumbag comes to my shop with the man from the evening standard for some "man of the people" photos.
This year they will be able to take pictures of him being thrown out of my shop. ****.

screeching against a free press

No-one is asking her to censor them, just to censure them.

At a time when she claims she is calling an election because she wants to repair the divisions in Westminster and bring Parliament together for the purposes of delivering Brexit - in the same way that the country is already coming together - is the request to condemn a call to crush opposing opinion rather than accommodate or win it round too much to reasonably expect?

people do become more right wing as they age,

people do become more right wing as they age

From what I can remember the evidence for this is unclear.

It's not one of the seven signs of aging that Olay protects against...

theotherjonv - Member

No-one is asking her to censor them, just to censure them.

At a time when she claims she is calling an election because she wants to repair the divisions in Westminster and bring Parliament together for the purposes of delivering Brexit - in the same way that the country is already coming together - is the request to condemn a call to crush opposing opinion rather than accommodate or win it round too much to reasonably expect?

Well said.

allthepies - Member

No GBP chart today kimbers ? I was expecting daily updates.

Still incredibly awful compared to the day before the referendum, and right at the bottom of the 10 year average? You don't need an update from Kimber tbh, you know how the pound's doing.

And £46bn off the FTSE- the worst day since the referendum. Hurrah! Still, I'm sure the brexiteers will be delighted to know that it also damaged the DAX and CAC.

It is not for the Prime Minister, or anyone else to dictate what the press should write. That is the point of the free press.
...which is why the left hate a free press.

Did the Prime Minister [i]actually[/i] "vow to crush the saboteurs"?
Were those her words?

If they were then fair enough, press is doing its bit reporting the news.

If not then the press is just making up its own quotes to suit its agenda.
What's to stop them publishing: "Corbyn vows to kill kittens" next?

Im guessing that Mays predicted landslide giving her a chance for the softest of brexits has done the £ good though, her comments on the today programme will have helped back that up too

The Norway model was always my 2nd choice!

Kimbers for May!

We live in strange times indeed.

( and the pound has been bobbing along quite nicely since around 11am yesterday, if you are interested )

Kimbers for May!

indeed interesting times
Im happy for her to mittigate the harm of brexshit as best as possible, maybe thats what Davis was hinting at , could we Keep the EMA, EBA, EIB, etc after all if we dont leave the ECJ?

on the other hand, decimating the NHS, sending education back to the stone age, punishing the poor and humiliating the disabled are aspects of May with an increased majority that im not so happy about.

Wow. This twunt will get oldtalents vote...

Its clearly a sin. Anyway I'm voting tory.
Shame they dont call it tomorrow, everyone knows who they are going to vote for anyway I expect.
I am enjoying the tears from the lefties/remoaners/commies/socialists though, most entertaining.

 

everyone knows who they are going to vote for anyway

I actually don't for the first time ever.

Still incredibly awful compared to the day before the referendum, and right at the bottom of the 10 year average? You don't need an update from Kimber tbh, you know how the pound's doing.

And £46bn off the FTSE- the worst day since the referendum. Hurrah! Still, I'm sure the brexiteers will be delighted to know that it also damaged the DAX and CAC.

FTSE goes down when pound goes up and vice versa. Most members are exporters so weak £ boosts profits. However FTSE net up more than £ down since referendum.

I am enjoying the tears from the lefties/remoaners/commies/socialists though, most entertaining.

I think that nicely sums up the rightwingers for you!

Wow. This twunt will get oldtalents vote...

Blimey - I hadn't clocked that previously. Not sure I can vote LD now unless he clears that up or is hoofed out. That makes it tough. Will have to have a look at the local Green again.

I am enjoying the tears from the lefties/remoaners/commies/socialists though, most entertaining.

[b]OLD[/b]talent - is that ironic or factual? If it's so I guess that means your one step closer to god's waiting room than I so I think it's great you are getting some joy in your last years.

 

Theresa May at the TV debates......

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Well it is happening - vote through Commons - and I learn another lesson about how political reality trumps the law.

oh I missed this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39643347

the architect of austerity has decided that the evening standard is a better shout

Had Clegg got on a ballot yet?

I hear George is finding it hard holding down all his jobs to make ends meet

> "I am enjoying the tears from the lefties/remoaners/commies/socialists though, most entertaining."
I think that nicely sums up the rightwingers for you!

Yep! Or as [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/eu-referendum-are-you-in-or-out/page/779#post-8415353 ]ninfan put it recently[/url]:

We warned you at the time that a great many people were perfectly happy to [b]crash the whole thing into the ground just to hear the screams of people like yourself[/b] who had spent years ignoring them. You refused to believe this, and carried on ignoring them. Now you pay the price.

It seems some people don't care who gets hurt, or what state the country ends up in, as long as "the lefties" don't like it.

Amazing stuff.

Deviant - apologies you took that seriously. I was just taking the mickey out of your paid taxes all their lives paragraph really.

But hey it's fun. I never thought we'd get to re-run the referendum this soon. And if common decency doesn't win this time, there's always next time.

Where people have a choice, they choose The Times, Telegraph, Mail - which is why the left hate a free press.

If people on the left bought more newspapers we'd have a more balanced press. The press in France is mostly left wing as people with those views buy papers.

@kimbers I am delighted to see the back of the number 1 Referendum bullshitter, told more whoppers than the whole of Leave put together. By the way he didn't invent "austerity" have a look back at the IMF's bailout loan terms placed on the UK / Dennis Healy in the 1970's

Currency

and right at the bottom of the 10 year average

... and so what, the world didn't end in 2009 either did it ? Germany has a currency in the € probably 25-30% below where it should be, suits them. We need to get our trade imbalance in order, far more important that the level of the £

If people on the left bought more newspapers we'd have a more balanced press

Which papers would they buy. Socialist Worker, Morning Star ?

jambalaya - Member

Where people have a choice, they choose The Times, Telegraph, Mail - which is why the left hate a free press.

If people on the left bought more newspapers we'd have a more balanced press. The press in France is mostly left wing as people with those views buy papers.

On one level agreed, but the problem is where is the product worth buying at present.
Chicken and egg now.

Had Clegg got on a ballot yet?

[url= https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg-vince-cable-both-10248617.amp ]Apparently yes he is standing[/url]

Wonder why Corbs backed the election? Perhaps he's had enough and needs a way out?

[quote=molgrips said]Wonder why Corbs backed the election? Perhaps he's had enough and needs a way out?

Gives him a chance to make his case for Labour to assume power. Why wouldn't he want to do that ?

Because he genuinely thinks that people will vote for him?

better to find out sooner than later, someone else then has a go for the next 5 years. Still not sure who that someone else is though.

Wonder why Corbs backed the election? Perhaps he's had enough and needs a way out?

Becasue he would have made the Labour Party an even bigger laughing stock if he'd blocked it. He'd have been saying to the country, we are (I am) crap and know we can't win so we'd better stay in opposition.

I did see a tweet that suggested the selected date was a tactical attack on Corbyn because June is the busiest time on the allotment. 😆

Ah but Corbyn will have all of June from the 9th onwards free 🙂

It's about the only kind of plotting that JC should be allowed to do.

"Ah but Corbyn will have all of June from the 9th onwards free"

Not sure about that. He was elected to deselect moderate Labour MPs/candidate MPs and replace them with loons. That mission can carry on after the election.

Gives him a chance to make his case for Labour to assume power. Why wouldn't he want to do that ?

for one brief moment, he was actually in a position of power there.

'Give us X and Y concessions on Brexit and we'll support your general election vote'. Save TM having to call a vote of no confidence in her own govt.

Bit disappointed that he just shrugged and let her get her own way...

Still not sure who that someone else is though

Yvette Cooper spanked May at PMQs today, tbf is not hard, you can see why May is so scared of a TV debate, even corbs would best her!

I'm feeling about as confident about May's chances as as I did about Clinton's chances after Donald Trump became the Republican candidate

ITV and BBC intending to do the TV debates with or without May.
So, what do you think,
A) empty chair
B) tub o' lard
C) Paul Merton in drag, or
D) she bottle the bottling, u-turn and do the debates?

She'll do the tv debate no doubt if the others do. Even Corbyn could score a point on that one. (I think).
Too much to lose by not doing it

Too much to lose by not doing it

Hardly. Throw your mind back to why #IagreewithNick became a thing at the 2010 election, and why the LibDems did so well, and ended up power-sharing.

Ask 10 randomers who Tim Farron is at the moment and probably more than half won't have a clue. Why would you want, as a serving PM, to give your main threat the chance to be watched by millions of voters?

She has far too much to lose by doing it.

She will do the debates. David Dimbleby summed it up well yesterday on R4 that it would be interesting and inconceivable that there would not be representation from the leader of our country to debate in a democratic discussion if all the other candidates were up for it.

Her hiring of Lynton Crosby will be on his terms. And one of those will be her non-participation.

Basically, the LibDems, who are the only party in England actively opposing Brexit, are trying desperately to engage with the 48% of voters who voted against it. Imagine if they could harness even a fraction of that in marginals? But their leader is pretty low profile. Do you really give him equal status with the PM for an hour or two of primetime telly?

EDIT: Thanks Legend, that's my days of political punditry done and dusted. 😀

The lady has turned again, now doing a TV debate

Anyone catch the Daily Hate, sorry Mail headline today ? 😆

[quote=legend said]The lady has turned again, now doing a TV debate

Sauce ?

Sauce ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/19/bbc-itv-collision-course-theresa-may-say-will-hold-televised/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

This probably. Happy with audience Q&A but no head to head with leaders, so not a 'debate', more her lecturing some carefully selected 'randoms'.

So not a debate as such then.

Paul Merton in drag

An apt time for HIGNFY to return methinks..

Hardly strong leadership if you feel afraid to stand up and debate why you should be leader of the country.

Nevertheless, her participating in the debating or not, the mindless sheeep will still vote for her.

As someone said to me today "may as well vote Tory since they're going to win anyway". WTF!! 😯

As someone said to me today "may as well vote Tory since they're going to win anyway". WTF!!

This is an actual thing. Some people just want to be on the winning side.

Why do people even want a TV debate - they're truly ghastly, cringe fests. I've never managed to watch more than 10 minutes. And I love current affairs, watch Newsnight most nights etc. But politicians just squabble and avoid the question, give sound bite answers etc. To$$ers the lot of 'em.

so I reckon Tories will win an increased majority but Lib Dems will do well (amazing as dead in water in June 2015), Labour will suffer like dogs, Ukip wont do great and SNP will do well but possibly concede one or two to the Tories. PLaid wotsit wont do great (leader too bleeding smug) and NI will do its own thing. Probably have a march or two.

or Labour quickly elect a new Leader and actually do quite well, blue collar Add to dictionary getting nervous etc.

I reckon.

Its clearly a sin. Anyway I'm voting tory.

Your not fooling us oldtalent, especially with a user name like that. I bet all your life you've secretly harboured a desire to pucker your lips around an illicit todger, perhaps you already have which is why you hold such irrational views.

Shame they dont call it tomorrow, everyone knows who they are going to vote for anyway I expect.
I am enjoying the tears from the lefties/remoaners/commies/socialists though, most entertaining.

If you garner such enjoyment from expressions of opposition to your views then you are little more than a bag of bile wrapped in an ill fitting skin suit.

C) Paul Merton in drag

pls

Linkynoworky.

if you feel afraid to stand up and debate

You know the scenes in 'Yes Minister' when Sir Humphrey congratulates Jim Hacker on being brave...

I bet all your life you've secretly harboured a desire to pucker your lips around an illicit todger

If that's the case then the Liberals are the party for you, not Tories. I know someone who was propositioned by a Liberal leader in a gents toilet, although it was a long time ago now.