The Theresa May General Election thread (edited)

Fretwired

ToneControl said:

was it like Jeremy Kyle then?

Worse .. God knows where they got the audience from ... very one-sided. Even the Guardian is less than impressed ..

ToneControl

Fretwired said:

ToneControl said:

was it like Jeremy Kyle then?

Worse .. God knows where they got the audience from ... very one-sided. Even the Guardian is less than impressed ..

that's saying something

Brad

Unsurprisingly a whopping let down. Lots of shouting over each other and petty squabbling, just too many personalities on show to have a meaningful debate. Although Tim Farron's closing statement was bit of nicely cutting light relief. 

I think it was a great bit of PR for Corbyn to do it and it really put pressure on May, however I'm concerned that he's starting to believe the hype a little bit here. He allowed himself to get sucked into the chaos on occasions, perhaps trying too hard to make an impression and I'm not sure it worked for him. Or perhaps the format just didn't play to his strengths? Bit of a missed opportunity me thinks. 

But at least he turned up. And I'm no fan of her at all, but fair play to Amber Rudd who was on a hiding to nothing but still stepped up for May, despite losing her father on Monday. Granted, you get no days off or sympathy when working in public office, particularly if you're a Tory.  
I've no idea of the background of Rudd's situation (of course it in no way compares to recent terrorist atrocities across the world), but that just sums up May's so called 'leadership'. Totally spineless in my opinion. 

Tavernor

For those who really [I]really[/I] don't want May to win in June:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19_yf4RL133fBKscvSbID4eRKwztzY9KSI_2BMaI1bU8/htmlview?sle=true#

I'm normally not in favour of the masses voting 'out' rather than 'in', but if people follow that links advice and it ends up helping defeat the Tories then so be it.

fields5069

Perhaps next time they have a debate it would be a good idea to employ a moderator who moderates. There's interruption, and then there's plain old shouting down for the sake of it, you're not just there to direct the questions.

I was most impressed by Tim "Prefab Sprout" Farron and Angus "Angus" Robertson. Jeremy Corbyn didn't really enjoy it, I think he skived off from the thumb-pointing, slow........ing.........down.......to........make......a........pointthenspeedingupagain lessons. Rudd just looked distasteful.

Caroline Lucas had a good point - how do those in government sleep at night? It's a bit like those in the press office of tobacco companies, I guess there seriously must be some sociopathic mental condition which allows you to keep defending the indefensible. It doesn't just apply to Tories of course, the past "Labour" government was probably just as bad, but I believe we now have genuinely better alternatives, one of which has slightly more than a cat in hell's chance of winning.

guitarfishbay

Fretwired said:

ToneControl said:

was it like Jeremy Kyle then?

Worse .. God knows where they got the audience from ... very one-sided. Even the Guardian is less than impressed ..

My issue was the weak moderation. The audience are going to clap/cheer/boo regardless, but I ended up thinking it was a good thing she's not a boxing referee because she'd step in way too late... too often descended into a multi voice shouting match.

Fretwired

TheBigDipper

I didn't watch last nights debate. I was practicing keeping my blood pressure down by ignoring it and playing some tunes with a friend. Badly. 

Many people (and the media) are shouting  "the BBC picked a biased audience".

I don't care if the BBC audience was biased in favour of Corbyn - or anyone else. It's only an audience. Apparently Putin and Trump always play to a friendly crowd. 

If you watched the programme, you'll have seen for yourself how the participants did and you'll have made up your own mind. If you didn't watch it, then you'll be relying on the media headlines to tell you what happened. Apparently Amber won (courtesy, the usual suspects) or Jeremy did (courtesy, the other usual suspects). 

I care far more about having access to facts and I'll make my own mind up, thanks. If only it was easy to get access to them (sigh). 

Fretwired

In the BBC's defence they claim there were seven political parties with representatives in the audience which meant at least 5/7ths of the audience were left leaning. It wasn't a debate - it was a shout fest with a baying mob. Politics in the UK is being dumbed down. The Tories  should just have hired Brian Blessed ..

Interesting interview with Hilary Clinton who points to Trump supporters using fake news and cartoons to undermine her on social media (just like the fake sick note I posted above). Some of the stuff on social media is unpleasant - is it having an effect on how people vote?

Heartfeltdawn

The complaints about the audience are very amusing. That audience behaved no differently to the sort of baying mentality we see at PMQs every Wednesday. 

Fretwired

Something interesting is happening over at Times online today - the comments section on articles is usually quiet .. they tick along a bit like this place. This morning its gone mad and is full of anti-May posts and pro Corbyn comments. The Times has obviously been infiltrated - UK lefties or the Russians? Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

ICBM

Fretwired said:

In the BBC's defence they claim there were seven political parties with representatives in the audience which meant at least 5/7ths of the audience were left leaning.

Do we know if they were allocated equal numbers per party, or on a share of the vote at the last election?

But it may still have been representative anyway. One of the things that's so frustrating for anyone on the left in the UK is that the left *is* in the majority - the left has won every election since WWII, on share of the vote. The problem is that the vote being split between Labour and the Liberals/Lib Dems (and others) combined with the FPTP system means that the Tories usually have a majority in parliament.

Even if you combine the Tory and UKIP vote last time, the right still didn't win - although it was very close.

Fretwired

ICBM said:

Fretwired said:

In the BBC's defence they claim there were seven political parties with representatives in the audience which meant at least 5/7ths of the audience were left leaning.

Do we know if they were allocated equal numbers per party, or on a share of the vote at the last election?

Equal numbers.

DarnWeight

Fretwired said:

Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

That's exactly what you do see.  No paywalls or subscription required at the Guardian, so easy pickings for the Tory trolls.  It  must be an absolute nightmare to moderate.  I flagged a fairly blatant astroturfer over there the other day during/after the Paxman debates...they'd registered just before the program started, multiple identikit posts, all vehemently anti-Corbyn clickbait soundbites.  Enough others must have done the same, because the user and all his comments were gone in less than half an hour.  No idea how the Times handles this...I'd have thought their subscription model would minimise that kind of thing, but someone's obviously decided it's worth the cost during the last week of Election campaigning!

Fretwired

DarnWeight said:

Fretwired said:

Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

That's exactly what you do see.  No paywalls or subscription required at the Guardian, so easy pickings for the Tory trolls.  It  must be an absolute nightmare to moderate.  I flagged a fairly blatant astroturfer over there the other day during/after the Paxman debates...they'd registered just before the program started, multiple identikit posts, all vehemently anti-Corbyn clickbait soundbites.  Enough others must have done the same, because the user and all his comments were gone in less than half an hour.  No idea how the Times handles this...I'd have thought their subscription model would minimise that kind of thing, but someone's obviously decided it's worth the cost during the last week of Election campaigning!

You can get a free trial with the Times although the cost is low ... the Times moderation is very light.

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

Something interesting is happening over at Times online today - the comments section on articles is usually quiet .. they tick along a bit like this place. This morning its gone mad and is full of anti-May posts and pro Corbyn comments. The Times has obviously been infiltrated - UK lefties or the Russians? Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

I'd say it's just people who are taking advantage of the 'two free articles per month' offer. I'm looking at this article:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/have-faith-in-me-may-fights-back-with-brexit-r9h0305kw

The quality of English used is way beyond the bullshit that the Guardian was getting when it was getting squashed by Russians. The Grauniad has been reigning back on comments sections on articles for some time now as it's not a good use of money to have people employed to moderate bullshit and we know how broke the Graun is. 

holnrew

The green party would be nothing without Lucas. She's achieved a lot for them. A very good speaker and very amiable, it's good to have her (co-)leading the party again. Leanne Wood was a little subdued, caught between attacking dire Labour Welsh Assembly, but also being anti-Tory.

I'm torn over the debate idea, it's good to give the smaller parties a platform, but it wasn't good TV.

Fretwired

Something that has been leaked .. could be fake news. Labour apprently

Heartfeltdawn said:

Fretwired said:

Something interesting is happening over at Times online today - the comments section on articles is usually quiet .. they tick along a bit like this place. This morning its gone mad and is full of anti-May posts and pro Corbyn comments. The Times has obviously been infiltrated - UK lefties or the Russians? Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

I'd say it's just people who are taking advantage of the 'two free articles per month' offer. I'm looking at this article:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/have-faith-in-me-may-fights-back-with-brexit-r9h0305kw

The quality of English used is way beyond the bullshit that the Guardian was getting when it was getting squashed by Russians. The Grauniad has been reigning back on comments sections on articles for some time now as it's not a good use of money to have people employed to moderate bullshit and we know how broke the Graun is. 

Interesting. The left does have quite a few well-educated people who can write well .... :-)

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

Something that has been leaked .. could be fake news. Labour apprently

Heartfeltdawn said:

Fretwired said:

Something interesting is happening over at Times online today - the comments section on articles is usually quiet .. they tick along a bit like this place. This morning its gone mad and is full of anti-May posts and pro Corbyn comments. The Times has obviously been infiltrated - UK lefties or the Russians? Imagine going to the Guardian and seeing positive comments about May, cutting tax and the evils of immigration.

I'd say it's just people who are taking advantage of the 'two free articles per month' offer. I'm looking at this article:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/have-faith-in-me-may-fights-back-with-brexit-r9h0305kw

The quality of English used is way beyond the bullshit that the Guardian was getting when it was getting squashed by Russians. The Grauniad has been reigning back on comments sections on articles for some time now as it's not a good use of money to have people employed to moderate bullshit and we know how broke the Graun is. 

Interesting. The left does have quite a few well-educated people who can write well .... :-)

<insert posh school/champagne comment here>  

Me, I went to a state comprehensive and I've still got a 24 pack of Dry Blackthorn that I haven't drank from last Xmas when my manager gave it to me. I might raffle it at this rate. 

octatonic