Westminstenders: Manifesto or Bust?

[RedToothBrush]

The Brexit Party aren't doing one.

The Labour Party apparently can't afford theirs.

The Conservatives will just lie anyway.

And the LDs got upstaged by Prince Andrew's resignation from royal duties for being a fuckwit.

3 weeks to go...

@thecatfromjapan
It was - and I didn't think it rang true/or he managed to deliver in convincingly. That could be because I despise him, but it just sounded hollow.

I guess that happens when you are so drilled in answers that aren't you word.

I actually didn't think jo swinson did as badly as I expected - she was passionate.

Loved Nicola sturgeon - her passion, but also your saw her experience - that's where she shines above Jo.

JC - he really shines when he is relating directly with people. Not that he did badly, but when you saw him in footage outside, he seems far more comfortable and relaxed.

And Boris - well he was odd. At times found his stride, but mostly ..... hollow.
But donkey in blue rosette and all that.....

Best bit of political coverage today was HIGNFU!!

Outrage in our house over WILTU being suspended.

Loads of signs have gone up for them and none for the conservatives. I have never seen this before.

I would hope so, but it might just mean that they have a good team of activisst. I recall an election a few years back where one person said 'We won on posters', and I though 'Yes, but the win is crosses in the box.'

In the Witney by-election in 2016 there were precious few posters for the Tory, a Brexiter in a Remain constituency, but he got in anyway - it being a pig with a blue rosette constituency. You might have thought that Tories disgusted with Cameron letting the side down, would have stayed away - maybe they did, but not in sufficient numbers.

I don’t often post on here, just lurk, as you are all so knowledgeable and I’ve nothing really to add. However, I live in a really safe Tory constituency, and today we got a Conservative leaflet, first time we’ve ever had one usually we only get Lib Dems and sometimes Labour. I’ve recycled it but it made he wonder if they could possibly be worried even here?

And thanks again, this is my first point of call for what is going on!

I remember Maggie Thatcher stopping the roll out of fibre to the home back in 1990 - if it had gone ahead, it would've meant that the UK would have been leading the world rather than playing catch-up but she decided it was anti-competitive

I wasn't even working in Telecoms at the time (that came 7 years later) but I remember thinking at the time how short-sighted it was - even though the internet was still not much more than a glint in Tim Bernese-Lee eye imagination at the time.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/world-of-tech/how-the-uk-lost-the-broadband-race-in-1990-1224784

Why did anyone watch ? Just read the pre-debate YouGov verdict, and save an hour of your life.

DGR I can always rely on you to make me laugh.

I thought Corbyn finally managed to get his Brexit plan across without sounding evasive or unclear. Hard to tell obviously but it did seem to be accepted that a neutral stance made perfect sense.

Be interesting to see how much of the MSM agrees that Corbyn’s pulled a master stroke.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/recap-to-harold-wilsons-neutral-stance-in-the-1975-referendum/22/11/

An interesting thing I noticed about Johnson's response to the criticism of his language in his journalism was that he seemed to be focusing on accusations that he'd been misogynistic, rather than racist. Of course his language was deliberately homophobic too, which is equally deplorable, but I was struck by the impression that he's more comfortable accepting that he's been offensive towards wimmin, than to accept that he's been racist.

I think part of that was doubling down on the (racist) trope that Islam (all Islamic teaching; all Muslims) are anti-women, misogynistic and fundamentalist.

Very grim.

You have a good point there, cat.

Big spike in voter registrations among young people yesterday. Four days left to register.

www.gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote/registrations-by-age-group#from=2019-10-01T00:00:00Z&to=2019-11-01T00:00:00Z

De lurking (I post very seldom, but have been following these invaluable threads). Before Question Time started last night I texted a friend to say that I anticipated that Nicola Sturgeon would be excellent, Jeremy Corbyn would be good, Jo Swinson would be ok(ish) and Boris Johnson would be - ahem - interesting.

Absolutely furious that the question about the Russian report was batted away by both Fiona Bruce and BJ. Bermuda Triangle? Really?? That comment is right up there with ‘humbug’.

I tried to watch QT afresh with an open mind. In terms of avoiding waffle, and answering the question there was a marked difference.

1.	Jeremy Corbyn & Nicola Sturgeon joint first.
2.	Jo Swinson.
3.	Boris Johnson.

Outright deceit and obfuscation from the PM on the NHS and the Russian report. He was definitely gave the most slippery responses.

Very disappointing how Fiona Bruce colluded with suppressing the follow up on the Russian question.

I always want some one to put Johnson’s personal voting record to him. In fact his record is unusual as there’s a lot of either no shows or abstentions as on many issues he fails to vote at all. For example I think his bum boy tank top comment is telling as he never even voted on same sex marriage. Not even once.

He did vote for privatising the NHS so GPs can buy in services. Generally he voted against promotion of equality and human rights and nearly always voted against climate change prevention.

PMK with a 😕

That's an interesting analysis of BJ's voting record, lonely
More privatisation and less equality - doesn't fit his ridiculous claim to be One Nation

We know politicians by their actions, how they vote, what they do in power, how they behave

• in BJ's case, he has frequently made racist "jokes" in public and gets away with it "free speech / joke"

We should remember that in most businesses and in any public sector job, that would get him sacked
As his lying has repeatedly got him sacked

How you rated party leaders on BBC Question Time leaders debate

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/corbyn-johnson-question-time-leaders-17303868.amp?__twitter_impression=true

The Tories have usually tried to demonise whoever is Labour leader; that's fairly standard at GEs

However, their GE disinformation campaign is a continuation of Leave campaign lies

• and is directed by some of the same people

https://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2019/11/22/week-in-review-tory-disinformation-campaign-intensifies

There's quite a bad smell coming off the Tory election machine

As the election campaign enters its more intense period, the party has adopted one of the standard populist tactics:

discrediting independent sources of information and attempting to replace them with its own output.

No previous Tory leader has chosen to invest so much of their budget in high-tech deception
That tells us a lot about BJ
and how he would behave if given another 5 years to use the power & reach of govt machinery

How you rated party leaders on BBC Question Time leaders debate

Interesting... Most surprising is that the debate seems to have changed 17% of voters minds about who to vote for, which they say is small, but in actual fact is massive!

JS seemed to have a miserable time by the looks of those ratings... I only saw the first ten minutes of her questions. They were tough questions, but I think it was her obstinacy and conceit tendencies that cause a disconnect between her and the audience.

2.6 Million people between the ages of 18-34 have registered to vote in this election, I dont see the polls reflecting that in their weighting

The sheer amount of young people registering to vote gives me so much hope. I can't help it...I think we can do this!

Despite the magic money tree dispensing its largesse willy nilly, Johnson told Waspi women he couldn’t magic up any money for them. That’s going to cost him dear at the polling station. He’s just alienated 1950s women at a stroke.