Westministenders: Before the Fire Alarm of Rome goes off

[RedToothBrush]

I’m going to keep this one very simple.

THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO VOTE IS 22ND MAY.
www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Postal votes start to go out on 23rd May.

Your challenge is to persuade someone to register to vote or to get someone who is considering not to, to get their arse to the polling station.

Go forth and harass. Especially women and the young.

That’s it. No frills OP.

Following again

Motheroffourdragons - that is why trust in the BBC is going down in Scotland

Shows how easy it is to manipulate perception by what (and how) you do - or don't - report

Mostly placemarking. It is to be hoped that some staunch Tories who are horrified by the way the party has turned into BlueKIP will stay at home.

I think one of the issues with the BBC at present is that they are perhaps over compensating.

I'm not sure its purely Tory bias (though there is a lot of that). Nor pro-kipperism.

The BBC are overwhelmingly ABC1 and educated and middle class. This means that there is a lot of very pro-EU, pro democracy types.

The people I know who work for them (including one on a political programme) are actually very left wing and middle class with very little exposure to northern working class types.

In trying to represent the views of 'ordinary working class' people - particularly northern they don't understand they have over cooked it. They struggle to represent the nuances of various working class groups and lump them altogether. This has helped UKIP enormously to gain ground it perhaps never would have.

I personally used to read the BBC website every day. It was the first thing I'd do when I logged in and it was rare I didn't. When I lived abroad it was a lifeline. But things have changed, and I no longer see it in the same way. Twitter has filled that void and I now try and take the 'gate keeper choices' over what I read rather than let the BBC dictate that.

The trouble with that, is that not everyone has the bullshit detector which is why fake news has crept in.

The BBC is desperately trying to adapt to the changing technology and its own lack of diversity which is affecting its ability to report and be trusted in the way it was in the past.

Its not succeeding terribly well at the moment.

Of course (Godwin alert) it could be argued that one of the strongest - and most stable - governments of the 20th century was elected in Germany, 1932. Certain turned the country around, following the crash of the economy in 1929 (when people used wheelbarrows to take cash to the shop).

I'd always assumed UKIP and Farage were wheeled out by the BBC so often in an attempt to discredit any pro-Brexit or right wing viewpoint as ridiculous and extreme. Every time they put a Kipper on TV they take the place of someone more sensible. Certainly their appearances have been way more than you'd expect for a party with just one MP, who wasn't Farage, and who has now gone independent, so zero MPs.

BREAKING NEWS:

Conservative Manifesto leaked and online:

Naughty, naughty, LH. Some Leavers get very upset when comparisons with the Government of Germany in 1932 are made. It can't be denied that with Referendum results polling 90% and more, it was the 'will of the people'. Non the less, that didn't make it right.

I'd add in to....

The BBC are overwhelmingly ABC1 and educated and middle class. This means that there is a lot of very pro-EU, pro democracy types.

...."and in Scotland, pro-Union."

To be fair, it could just be that they are simply institutionally "pro status quo" However, that wouldn't explain the UKIP bias - although Red's "over compensation" theory rings true.

Thanks for the new thread, RTB

SalBrinton‏ @SalBrinton
Interesting that @timfarron matches more people's political views than the other leaders @LibDems

In response to this:
John Rentoul‏ @JohnRentoul
On left to right wing scale in ComRes poll for @DailyMirror Corbyn is seen as more left wing than Trump is right wing, via @Andrew_ComRes

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bbc-question-time-bias-tory-plant_uk_5915562ce4b00f308cf43291?ir=UK

The BBC’s Question Time programme has once again been accused of bias and giving airtime to a “Tory plant” after a Scottish Conservative councillor was allowed to make the opening of the show about Labour’s leaked manifesto taking Britain “back to the nightmare that was the 70s”.

And he got a lot of time and opportunity to respond (I thought it was a little odd whilst watching) .

Lurkinghusband,

I saw this tweet some days ago but have resisted sharing it for a reason:

Ros Chappell @RosChappell
May's campaign slogan Strong and Stable lifted from Hitler 'Mein Kampf' @MikeHPR @acgrayling @solangelebourg @UKIPNFKN @Dr_Jim1 #GE2017

But to get it wrong on the Scottish council elections is just rubbish!

Too many people don't understand stats (nor even basic numbers at times). This includes the supposedly intelligent. Doctors are notoriously bad at them. Humanities graduates are supposed to be worse than them who have done science and maths.

This is actually where the 'We've had enough of experts' stuff is relevant and important as there are lots of experts who are not interpreting what data is really saying, acknowledging what it misses and are acting on too simplistic models with dire consequences.

Journalists are shocking at it.

(Add proper teaching of stats to teach all kids basic media studies).

Wrt the Lib Dems being the party that many align with - that's certainly the case for me.

I'm fearful that Corbyn will pull a Trump and that current Labour will ruin the country (their policy proposals are mainly good, but not in the current climate).

I'm not ok with the prospect of further stringent cuts to the vulnerable that is the risk wrt Conservatives (although I think changes & reform are needed & disagree with the 'tories are murderers' rhetoric).

However, I'm a Leaver, and Lib Dem have nailed their party to promise of 2nd ref etc & I don't think that's the best way forward - from a Brexit perspective the only party that represents me is Conservative.
I also like TM (cup of cold sick on these threads! ).

It is purely the Brexit thing that is stopping me voting Lib Dem tbh and I truly think that's the case for lots more like me.
It's a shame, because I'm a big fan of Tim Farron & the party as a whole & would like to see Lib Dem as equally competitive with Labour & Conservative in the grand scheme of things.

Do you think the LDs can win enough seats to stop a Tory majority? If not, vote LD... They can't stop Brexit, only make noises about it.

As we saw with Hitler, something had to break eventually in the way he went about achieving his vision. Because international cooperation and diplomacy was essential to him being able to achieve it and he failed in this ultimately. Anything that goes beyond your borders needs it. Otherwise you are confided to your borders.

Of course it's been - or is being - airbrushed from history. But the US stance regarding Germany and Hitler was not the immediate jump to defending the free world that they would like us to believe. There were many influential USians who openly supported Hitler, and pushed for a US version. They were (unwittingly) aided by the general populations rightful desire not to be dragged into another overseas war.

Remember Jospeh Kennedy - US Ambassador to the UK at the time - was sending briefings back to Roosevelt saying that Britain was a busted flush, and the US should cosy up to Hitler. I'd like to think it was luck that meant Roosevelt was President, rather than someone who might have taken the much easier (in terms of domestic politics) option of keeping the US well away from Europe. Which (it can be argued) would have ended with the US being subjugated by an A-bomb armed Nazi Germany, if you put their atomic research together with their rocket programme (V2).

Gosh that's a new one on me. I know a fair few people (colleagues) who will most likely vote Tory, despite Brexit, but I don't know a single person who has any time for May.

BBC bias: bizarrely they have done an OK job on the French election (better than most of UK inc the Grauniad) or so says DH who still looks at the BBC website sometimes. I must admit I avoid it like the plague these days and if I still had to pay a licence fee I wouldn't be very happy about it.

We NEED international cooperation, and geography ALWAYS comes into that. Even with the internet.

An excellent primer might be "Prisoners of Geography"

the world makes a lot more sense once you have read that. Particularly Russian thinking.

I'm half way through reading it lurking... Must admit to having got distracted and started reading a few other books (that I've also not finished) in the meantime.

It's inescapable. Unless someone invents the ability to teleport goods.

A propos of nothing : reading the Westministenders threads (and associated links) is a great way to pass the time (with only one free hand) while standing over the hob stirring the tablet (45 minutes of pretty much constant boring stirring). Thank you for giving me something constructive to dual-task with

www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/the-liberal-democrats-will-pledge-to-completely-legalise?utm_term=.dba7ba78Q#.xjmawxavQ
The Liberal Democrats Will Pledge To Completely Legalise Cannabis
Exclusive: The party has told BuzzFeed News its manifesto will include a commitment to having a fully regulated UK cannabis market, including sale and production, which could raise up to £1 billion in extra taxes.

It's actually a policy that has merit but will go down like a lead balloon.