Westminstenders: Election Special 3

[RedToothBrush]

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I'm going to rub salt in the wound til after Newsnight then I'm not watching the news, looking at the press or social media ever again for the foreseeable future.

If I hear one more thicko British voter spouting off on the telly or radio, i will emigrate.

I wish I could self identify as a Tory and Brexit voter and not give a shit.

Thank you to Red et al for these threads.

Peregrina geography quiz welcome relief. Thank you. Can I suggest for those that can, a trip to Exmoor. It's really pretty, friendly, easy to get to from Glasgow and a good place to get away from Brexit horrors except BJ's father grew up here and the family still has a farm and the vile no deal Tory MP who increased his majority. How? it all.

Does anyone know how Lisa Nancy's constituency campaign was run? It's messaging? Which activists (& how many ) were involved?

I've heard it said that she is a very strong constituency MP.

I feel the same way oliphant. Thank you to all of you for these threads. It has been a comfort to share and hear thoughts from others. Don't know what I would have done without it.

By the way, there's a protest going on in London against Johnson's election victory right now.

If I hear one more thicko British voter spouting off on the telly or radio, i will emigrate.

The Pyrrhic victory will reveal its true toll soon enough.

By the way, there's a protest going on in London against Johnson's election victory right now.

Now that encourages me. I remember when the Tories got in again in 1992 and the Scots started protesting. I thought at the time that this was too late, but it wasn't, it was the start of the movement to oust the main parties from Scotland. Parties who had taken their electorate for granted.

Our voting system has seriously not helped. Corbyn actually got more votes last night than Blair did in 2005.

I visit Exmoor every second year or so, go walking. Oh the fun on Porlock Hill. Once drove between Porlock and Lynton in thick fog/sea mist. So scary. Doesn’t feel as though you are in this century, on this Earth.

Cat I was a member of the labour for many years, membership lapsed a few years ago, I will rejoin no good sitting here feeling powerless & I really can’t bear RLB so maybe that way I might be eligible for a say in a leadership vote, even if I don’t my Labour MP is very good & I would like to recognise/support her in some small way.

I keep saying this - mass democracy does not and should not require PhD levels of political involvement and understanding to participate.

That would be wholly unreasonable and amount to electoral disenfranchisement.

It's OK to be 'thick' and a member of the electorate. It's perfectly reasonable. It really is. It's OK & not a bad thing at all.

It's the task of political Parties to reach out to those, and communicate clearly. It's part of the job.

It doesn't matter how you do it. But you do have to do it.

And, yes, it's going to be harder for progressive Parties - but it genuinely is the job.

Cat that's probably a valid point. Though the small towns stuff isn't going away anytime soon, in part because it's about infrastructure.

What's the next big political trend coming through? All the big names didn't see this so lack vision. That makes you consider whether it's one term or two that Labour will struggle for.

That is the environment but the demographics arent right for that in small towns in 5 years time. Not when it's got as image as radical and militant.

A wise man (or woman) might instead look at moderating the message and making it accessible along the lines of community based effects of climate change (remedies for those who live in high flood risk areas etc or perhaps an automatic car system which allows you to timeshare a car instead of more traditional public transport solutions in the north) as part of a wider policy. Take it to people's doorsteps so it's relevant to them. Not some 'precocious sounding' teenager who they might be perceiving as a brat.

It is about spotting the trends before they become the narrative so you can control the narrative and be ahead of your rivals.

But 5 years is a long old slog and so we might not be able to spot it this far out. Yet.

don'tcallmehelen Yes. I'm hoping a lot of people (mainly women) will feel like that.

And I think we need to have a good think about who might be a good choice for Leader.

I honestly don't know if I will be in the country in five years time. Not with this Government.

I think there is a large element of the truth in this:

this

"The left need to start basing policy on what their traditional supporters want, not what the left think they should want.

It's a tough thing to do and do well, but the social justice warrior doesn't connect with a lot of people. It just smacks of people telling them how the should behave and think which gets up backs because it can be authoritarian in nature and tone."

Totally, somebrightmorning.

Oh, and totally agree, Red.

It's OK to be 'thick' and a member of the electorate. It's perfectly reasonable. It really is. It's OK & not a bad thing at all

It's not ok to be thick. It's depressing.

Honestly, you need to take a step back and think about what 'thick' means.

We're all (well, as near all as dammit) 'thick' about something(s).

And being uninformed is a state most of us are in about many things.

It's really way too much to expect everyone to be operating at the level of a superstar LSE politics Professor.

And ... television will always choose controversial and inflammatory people to set before you - it's clickbait.

The left need to start basing policy on what their traditional supporters want, not what the left think they should want.

And what exactly do they want? Based on this election, they appear to want populism and authoritarianism. But is that only because that seemed like a better option than Labour was offering? Labour ought to be planning to get out there on doorsteps and figure this shit out.

Lots of Momentum FB friends quoting Tony Benn
FFS
he never led his party anywhere either

Labour HQ have to move
not the people

when will Corbyn go ?

Labour ought to be planning to get out there on doorsteps and figure this shit out.

Definitely.

Mind you, one thing I have learned - through parenting, reading, being a human, and therapy - is that people often can't articulate the answer (even to themselves) of that seemingly simple question: 'What do you want?'

You sometimes have to apply both conversation and analysis to get an answer.

People are crazy.

Beautiful, intriguing, alluring, loving, hateful, careful, careless, heedless, thoughtful, caring - and structurally nuts!

It reminds me of the Gordon Brown bigoted woman comment. He was horrified that such a woman voted Labour as it didn't align with his values. labour has to ask itself whether it wants to be a populist, nationalist, isolationist party. If it does, then it will lose the new core Labour voters ie the metropolitan elite and, of course, the Asian vote.

Thanks for all the threads from a long time lurker.

I was gutted last night, particularly as we (just) lost a wonderful constituency MP to a parachuted in career politician. Today though, I feel a bit better. I've never been a big fan of Corbyn, and even if I don't mind him it doesn't matter anyway - the electorate hate him, and it doesn't matter how great Labour's policies are..if they're not in government, they won't happen.

On reflection, I prefer Labour to have lost badly. This means Corbyn has to go, and hopefully (!!) some proper introspection will take place. It also means the Tories own what comes next - Brexit is theirs, and also they have their many public spending promises to fulfill. My biggest sadness is that Scotland will almost certainly leave the union, but it seems pretty inevitable now.

One thing I think is important and I haven't heard mentioned is that we are overdue a recession (not talking about Brexit, just the normal economic cycle). It is very likely there will be one in the next 5 years and it will no doubt have consequences for the future we can't yet see.

Corbyn shouldn't ' reflect' on the might have beens. He should just go. Sooner rather than later.