Snap General Election called

[Puja]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50726500

This is really quite something. An analysis of online election advertisements has found that 88% of those paid for by the Conservatives contained definite factual inaccuracies (or lies, as some people like to call them). The figure for Labour? They couldn't find a paid Labour ad with a lie in it.

Puja

[Stom]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50726500

This is really quite something. An analysis of online election advertisements has found that 88% of those paid for by the Conservatives contained definite factual inaccuracies (or lies, as some people like to call them). The figure for Labour? They couldn't find a paid Labour ad with a lie in it.

Puja

88% is quite incredible!

That needs sharing.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Can you imagine what the papers would be saying if Corbyn had written a book like this?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 39346.html

"burning eyes, hook noses and hairy black eyebrows that joined in the middle"
“The interesting thing about his half-caste looks, he decided, was that he didn’t look Negroid.”

Jesus fuck. How can anyone remotely look at this and decide that it's best to support Boris?!

Puja

Equally how can the official opposition veer to the left snatching defeat from certain victory in the face of such as Boris. It's all gone mad at the top

It's difficult for the opposition when most of the media ignore what Boris has written and consider Corbyn to be the one with the bigger racism issues despite having written or said absolutely nothing racist.

[Digby]

Jesus fuck. How can anyone remotely look at this and decide that it's best to support Boris?!

Puja

Equally how can the official opposition veer to the left snatching defeat from certain victory in the face of such as Boris. It's all gone mad at the top

It's difficult for the opposition when most of the media ignore what Boris has written and consider Corbyn to be the one with the bigger racism issues despite having written or said absolutely nothing racist.

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

[Digby]

Channel 4 had an interesting article on tonight, looking at who in this election campaign has gained positive media stories that'll gain say 5-10 seconds of the news bulletins delivered on the airwaves on all those shows that do (some) news but not really any chat about the news/politics, so that's things like Heart Fm, Absolute Radio and so on.

The Channel 4 article didn't focus on we could kill all the listeners to these stations and reduce property prices without ever losing a cure to cancer, rather they'd analysed the Tory party had gained the most positive stories followed by Labour, and that Labour had also had one really negative cycle of news (I didn't actually hear what the negative article was as I was being asked about salad). So is that even non political stations favour the Tories, is that the Tories are the team in power and naturally garner more attention, or is it the Tories are better at giving a headline and staying on message?

[Stom]

Channel 4 had an interesting article on tonight, looking at who in this election campaign has gained positive media stories that'll gain say 5-10 seconds of the news bulletins delivered on the airwaves on all those shows that do (some) news but not really any chat about the news/politics, so that's things like Heart Fm, Absolute Radio and so on.

The Channel 4 article didn't focus on we could kill all the listeners to these stations and reduce property prices without ever losing a cure to cancer, rather they'd analysed the Tory party had gained the most positive stories followed by Labour, and that Labour had also had one really negative cycle of news (I didn't actually hear what the negative article was as I was being asked about salad). So is that even non political stations favour the Tories, is that the Tories are the team in power and naturally garner more attention, or is it the Tories are better at giving a headline and staying on message?

The Tories' strategists are much better. Labour are useless and the Lib Dems clueless.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Equally how can the official opposition veer to the left snatching defeat from certain victory in the face of such as Boris. It's all gone mad at the top

It's difficult for the opposition when most of the media ignore what Boris has written and consider Corbyn to be the one with the bigger racism issues despite having written or said absolutely nothing racist.

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

Yes, of course, silly Labour. All they needed to do was buy a few national newspapers, it's their own fault really.

[Banquo]

when will it all end. Its so fcking desperate. All the MPs on show seem to be either pants or CAUCs

Cauc? Complete and utter?

yep

[Digby]

It's difficult for the opposition when most of the media ignore what Boris has written and consider Corbyn to be the one with the bigger racism issues despite having written or said absolutely nothing racist.

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

Yes, of course, silly Labour. All they needed to do was buy a few national newspapers, it's their own fault really.

There are plenty of left wing publications, and there are plenty of left wing bodies with the money to publish, again there's a shortage of people wanting to read them which is the actual problem, people tend to chose something rather more right leaning. Labour can either move to the people, or hope the people move to where it currently is, only one of those looks a viable election strategy to me

[Stom]

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

Yes, of course, silly Labour. All they needed to do was buy a few national newspapers, it's their own fault really.

There are plenty of left wing publications, and there are plenty of left wing bodies with the money to publish, again there's a shortage of people wanting to read them which is the actual problem, people tend to chose something rather more right leaning. Labour can either move to the people, or hope the people move to where it currently is, only one of those looks a viable election strategy to me

I think that's because socialism in the UK is tied so strongly to the Labour movement.

And therefore to the unions.

So socialism is a harder sell to anyone with businesses because companies do have a lot of problems with bureaucracy around the ability to sack people, among other things. And it's a stupidly hard balance to make between protecting the many and safeguarding against misuse.

But I think it does make it harder for parties like Labour to make inroads. Which is one of the reasons I support the creation of a new party unburdened by the unions.

It has echoes to Hungary with the "difficult" situation with socialism. A position that is so much more nuanced than other former communist countries. And worth study, I believe. I might look it up some time.

[Stom]

I was reading a poorly researched article in the Granuiad about disregarding the youth vote.

And it got me thinking about the breakdown of new voter registration by constituency.

I took a look and had a little fiddle with the figures in this doc. If anyone is interested.

I haven't got far, but I thought it was worth comparing the new voter registration with the leave vote and the result in their constituency.

And it does leave me with a bad feeling...

If another ref were to happen, it does appear that, while the opposite result may happen across the country, individual constituencies would not change much.

We are getting a lot of new registrations in constituencies that voted remain. And those seats were generally Labour seats in 2017, too.

So those new votes aren't going to have much of an impact at this election, thanks to FPTP.

This could be the first election I can remember where Labour's vote share is more than their seat share.

[Sandydragon]

It's difficult for the opposition when most of the media ignore what Boris has written and consider Corbyn to be the one with the bigger racism issues despite having written or said absolutely nothing racist.

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

Yes, of course, silly Labour. All they needed to do was buy a few national newspapers, it's their own fault really.

Or elect an electable leader.

[Digby]

That's how it is for Labour, they can either respond to that or fall victim to it. Also I'd prefer more people read a more lefty opinion piece, though I confess I go as far as the Guardian as an everyday thing, but there are lefty publications, it's just not enough people read them, which might at other times influence how Labour presents itself

Labour simply doesn't find itself in even lefty country, there's a reason the Tories are the normal party of government no matter how much that annoys them (and me) at times

Yes, of course, silly Labour. All they needed to do was buy a few national newspapers, it's their own fault really.

Or elect an electable leader.

It's an odd thought heading into Christmas at just how happy I'd be were I able to vote for Yvette Cooper tomorrow

[Son of Mathonwy]

I was reading a poorly researched article in the Granuiad about disregarding the youth vote.

And it got me thinking about the breakdown of new voter registration by constituency.

I took a look and had a little fiddle with the figures in this doc. If anyone is interested.

I haven't got far, but I thought it was worth comparing the new voter registration with the leave vote and the result in their constituency.

And it does leave me with a bad feeling...

If another ref were to happen, it does appear that, while the opposite result may happen across the country, individual constituencies would not change much.

We are getting a lot of new registrations in constituencies that voted remain. And those seats were generally Labour seats in 2017, too.

So those new votes aren't going to have much of an impact at this election, thanks to FPTP.

This could be the first election I can remember where Labour's vote share is more than their seat share.

That's the shitty situation with this shitty system. A large chunk of any change you care to mention will be lost in safe seats. Tactical voting coupled with a sneaky last minute surge for Labour are all we can hope for now.

[Which Tyler]

Couple of fairly important articles recently that I haven't noticed being covered.

FirstDraftNews

88% of conservative's paid facebook ad.s have been found to be untruthful or misleading compared to 0% for labour and 16.5% for LibDem.
Whilst facebook (officially) has policies in place to counter such things - Zuckerberg doesn't apply them to political parties - presumably because political parties spend a lot of money on facebook and don't like being called liars.


YorkshirePost

Editor of the Yorkshire Post replies to critics on the 4 year old pneumonia story; basically saying "journalists have a legal duty to fact check - which we did; Sheree on facebook doesn't, and didn't; and oh look, it was the first and last post from an account that has since disappeared and is unavailable for scrutiny".



ByLineTimes

Dissects how these fake stories get out and given legitimacy by mainstream media / journalists; covers Jack on the floor, Johnson's phone "theft", the Matt Hancock "assault"


And now there's this: Guardian Some disagreement (and my speakers are too crap) as to whether the aide says "oh for fucks sake" or "oh fuck off" on live TV; whilst Boris hides in a milkvan to avoid giving an interview.

[Puja]

Couple of fairly important articles recently that I haven't noticed being covered.

FirstDraftNews

88% of conservative's paid facebook ad.s have been found to be untruthful or misleading compared to 0% for labour and 16.5% for LibDem.
Whilst facebook (officially) has policies in place to counter such things - Zuckerberg doesn't apply them to political parties - presumably because political parties spend a lot of money on facebook and don't like being called liars.

That one was on the BBC (I linked it at the top of the page), but I can understand if you missed it because they buried the lede under the headline: "General election 2019: Ads are 'indecent, dishonest and untruthful'" rather than noting *whose* ads were indecent, dishonest, and untruthful.

Puja

[Digby]

whilst Boris hides in a milkvan to avoid giving an interview.

Of course he's not the only one, Corbyn has bottled the Today interview. Though it's also worth noting in addition to bottling being interview by a wig that Boris too has bottled the Today interview

Btw, was Boris actually in a milk van (with a milk maid?) or is that a play on words around bottling it?

[Which Tyler]

That one was on the BBC (I linked it at the top of the page), but I can understand if you missed it because they buried the lede under the headline: "General election 2019: Ads are 'indecent, dishonest and untruthful'" rather than noting *whose* ads were indecent, dishonest, and untruthful.

Oops, don't quite know how I missed that, especially as it was replied to, giving context. I can only think that I saw it last night, and forgot having done so this morning.
It is worth noting that the findings are about paid adverts only, not other material generated by candidates / activists/

whilst Boris hides in a milkvan to avoid giving an interview.

Of course he's not the only one, Corbyn has bottled the Today interview. Though it's also worth noting in addition to bottling being interview by a wig that Boris too has bottled the Today interview

Btw, was Boris actually in a milk van (with a milk maid?) or is that a play on words around bottling it?

I think what really makes it newsworthy is that Johnson's aide told the reporter to fuck off on live TV (or said "for fucks sake"); and that he literally hid in a milkvan. No puns on bottling things; he hid inside a refridgerated van used to deliver milk to houses (though most outlets seem to be saying he "hid in a fridge" which makes it seem a little more dramatic; if only a little. Had he just walked away without comment it would have been entirely un-newsworthy.
I haven't seen the Corbyn one, did he actively hide? or did he just carry on walking, trying to pretend that the interviewer wasn't there?

[Digby]

Today as in the flagship morning news broadcast on Radio 4, not Today as in today. They've had all the other party leaders do an interview, it's just Corbyn and Boris dodging them. And it's an extremely influential programme, partly it still gains big daily audiences even if shrinking , but also it's probably the most influential programme for the political/liberal elite, meaning rightly or wrongly its influence is more than the listener numbers in a fashion that's perhaps more so than any other programme

[Which Tyler]

Ah, ok - so more akin to Boris repeated refusal to be formally interviewed, rather than Boris's hiding in a milkvan whilst his aide tells a live reporter to fuck off.


Turns out that (Sheree) the originator of the fake story that the 4 year old was a fake pic; who claimed that her account was hacked and that she'd never posted it - lied about that (she replied to comments on it); and has a son who is friends with Matt Hancock - who would, of course, have no possible reason to try to get this lie out there.




And now for something completely different:

[morepork]

Zuckerburg sucks donkey cocks in Hell. He is just a money grubbing piece of shit.

[Digby]

So what you're saying is you believe in hell.

[morepork]

Only the one populated by fetid donkey pizzle as laid out in the old testament.

[Mikey Brown]

Laura Keunsberg seemingly trying to distract from her f*ck up over the hospital situation by announcing on TV that she's already seen the postal votes, or been informed about them "by people on both sides". Is she a proper arsehole or just a moron?

[Digby]

Laura Keunsberg seemingly trying to distract from her f*ck up over the hospital situation by announcing on TV that she's already seen the postal votes, or been informed about them "by people on both sides". Is she a proper arsehole or just a moron?

The postal votes are open for inspection, have been for days, what's the problem with her comments here?