I feel sad about Angela Rayner

[Neededa]

OK, I am left leaning so maybe I am already biased, BUT, I do feel sad that a woman who overcame early issues, who was “proper” working class, who didn’t speak the kings English, but rather with a proper local dialect, and achieved a high office without a single spoon in her working class mouth, has gone.

i do understand that many people will agree with what has happened. I would have been fuming if the story played out the way it had as a different party, and I understand that Angela had to go, BUT as a woman who believes in holding up other women, particularly those who aren’t born to certain families, or have expectations placed on them from word go, I do feel a bit sad this morning.

There was a working class woman in the House of Commons. A working class woman was the deputy prime minister of this country. It is not even 100 years since working class women could vote. I feel sad.

A majority of one is still a majority.

A majority is only meaningful if you have a consensus within that.

The problem is the lack of willingness to build consensus within any political party ATM.

It is all about My Way Or The Highway, or The Fudge that doesn't really build consensus.

Building consensus is time consuming and difficult. You do it over years. Get it right and you stay in power for years.

Labours current problem is they don't have the luxury of time to rebuild that. So are resorting My Way or The Fudge out of desperation which has become something of a doom loop destined to make them fail in the eyes of the public.

They also blame everyone else including the press for their own mistakes.

Yep.

The public HATE it with a passion. Regardless of their political affiliation.

That’s nonsense. If mistakes weren’t made the media couldn’t exploit them. I merely pointed out that the media isn’t evenhanded.

Yep. Hypocrisy and endless blame elsewhere. No wonder the polls are where they are.

I don’t understand what you mean by questions being a means to try and gather votes - sorry.

I disagree there. Questions are literally a way to question the government about their work and policies.

There are also oral parliamentary questions (held monthly/every 6 weeks and rotated through the different departments) and written parliamentary questions, where MPs and HoL members can ask each other about their department’s work.

That’s nonsense. If mistakes weren’t made the media couldn’t exploit them. I merely pointed out that the media isn’t evenhanded.

@blossomtoes Daily Mail, Sun, Telegraph & Times on the right, Guardian, Mirror & Independent on the left.
Spectator right and New Statesman left.

We hardly ever watch TV but as far as I know GB News is right wing and Channel 4 left. I’d say BBC leans to the left but I know this is disputed.
The right wing media is blamed for much of Labour’s problems but the left have a voice in media too.

The media were just as vocal for the last lot anyway. Partygate dominated for months. Sunak’s wife etc. It’s all profit. It’s Labour that use the excuse when they fuck it up.

Questions and answers don’t change anything though. You could ask the PM a thousand questions and get a thousand answers that show him to be doing great harm to the country and yet by themselves those answers change nothing. The only thing that changes what happens in this country is votes - the votes of MPs in parliament, the votes of councillors in local councils, and the votes of constituents in changing the people who vote in Parliament and councils. Governments don’t pass laws and budgets by answering questions.

That’s all very true, but Parliament is still holding MPs to account, with the methods they have available to them.

Which is their vote. And with a 200 majority that becomes a very weak weapon of accountability. You only need to look at the Scottish Parliament to see how a guaranteed majority (there by the SNP MSPs pledging to always vote the party line, and Greens getting thrown regular bones) reduces Parliament to an ineffective talking shop where the Scottish government can do what they like and the opposition are powerless to change it regardless of any questions they ask.

At the end of the day nothing Kemi can say will stop Kier from passing any legislation his wishes without a huge rebellion by Labour.

That’s true. But them’s the breaks.

The press is democracy’s best friend in these situations, despite the left bleating on about ‘the right wing media’ - as if there’s no left-media - when journalists report and comment on its fuck ups.

I don’t understand what you mean by a ‘guaranteed majority’ - no majority is ever guaranteed, because resignations or sackings are always a possibility.

And just to reiterate, Parliament’s main way of holding the government to account is via questioning them, not by voting (because voting isn’t as frequent as questioning).

This link has some good info about how Parliament holds the govt to account: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c327840f0b67d0b11f816/chap8.pdf.

The left wing media is vastly outnumbered by the right. The Mirror and The Guardian are basically it. I’d settle for evenhanded coverage but it’ll never happen.

What legislative change do you think happens when someone asks a question in parliament?

Plus the right wing media went for the last lot anyway. It’s Labour who use it as an excuse.

I agree - and the Mirror are now cutting lots of jobs, so their clout is likely to be reduced. I’d perhaps also add the New Statesman to the list too, but it’s definitely not as widely read as the Guardian or Mirror.

Why did it take Zahawi six months to resign when his £5 million tax evasion was uncovered then?

The broadcast media is governed by statutory, enforceable rules about accuracy and impartiality. Broadcast media remain the main source of news.

The press includes the Guardian, Observer, Mirror, People and Morning Star. This government’s press supporters include the FT too. I would also include the i but you’d probably say it wasn’t left-wing (it is, broadly).

There’s also a lot of online left-wing ‘news’ and comment, like Byline Times, Skwawkbox and The Canary. They may be utter rubbish, but they’re there, and they’re left-wing.

I agree that the right wing press - not all of which is Telegraph-style Tory press release in nature anyway - outsells the left. But that’s because it’s more in tune with the country (and is better produced and less tiresome than the preachy left-wing papers found on coffee tables in the senior common rooms of third-rate universities).

The press isn’t there just to trumpet the wonders of the left.

The broadcast media is governed by statutory, enforceable rules about accuracy and impartiality.

Shame it’s not enforced then. Impartiality would mean we saw the same amount of Farage on the BBC as the Greens leader.

Take it up with Ofcom.

I’m a big fan of the BBC. I think its coverage skews metropolitan left a bit, but I can live with that.

Channel 4 seems like a Labour comms team Insta stories channel. Nobody much complains about that though.

I’m surprised Channel 4 is still going.

I feel frustrated on Angela Rayner's behalf because she has screwed up and damaged a remarkable career. Her personal life is complicated - on the electoral roll in three places, right to buy council house, NHS payout, trust, one-off relationship, divorce - and an easy target for the right wing press. The Telegraph is still digging and has found documents showing her solicitors submitted a higher valuation for the Ashton house which lifts her 25% share to the amount she needed for the deposit on the Hove flat. The level of hounding of her is frightening. Jeremy Hunt and Nadim Zahawi haven't returned home to find graffiti on their property.

The BBC is incredibly partisan on women’s rights and regularly lies about the sex of sex offenders or buries news that contradicts their very pro-gender ideology stance. Barely a day goes by without them praising a drag queen.

Wow. Is there an alternative BBC I don’t have access to?