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GE17

Posts Tagged ‘GE17’

Labour’s youth voters crave conformity

corbyn bib youthToday’s Radio 4 chatter about social media connecting with yoof was mind blowing. Replace social media for ‘newspapers’, ‘magazines’, ‘John Lennon’, ‘football’ or ‘TV’ and we were once more being told the cool kids have outgrown the old ways and are rebelling.

Our parents don’t understand us, man, they cry. Only they do because they’ve tracked your iphone and follow you on Instagram under an assumed name. And the hubristic people you voted for are older than your dad.

You’re not a rebel marching on the citadel, writing searing protest music and creating a rosy-fingered dawn. You’re not Spartacus. You’re a nerd with a Vodafone contract.

Posted: 13th, June 2017 | In: News, Politicians, Reviews | Comment

The DUP take Arlene Foster to a Gay Bar

The DUP rock the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar, gay bar (also: The YMCA and In The Navy):

 

And Arlene Foster rocks this one: It’s Raining Men!

And here’s the original, which features the DUP serenading their leader with ‘Arlene’s On Fire’:

Spotter: David Halliday

Posted: 12th, June 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment

Ban the DUP from Government and destroy Brexit

Much weeping and wailing over the Tory Party calling on the DUP to form a coalition government. One commentator described the DUP as the locals from The Dukes of Hazard. But ridicule is not enough. The censorious call is for a ban.

The shrill petition against the Tory-DUP deal has hit half a million signatures within 24 hour. What an intolerant, sneering, entitled mob we are. How great it is to be so into freedom, liberty and ‘being myself’ that you can ban other ideas and ‘bad’ people with abandon. The argument is settled! The science is settled! Thou shalt not dissent! No wonder Islamists feel so at home here. But you don’t need knives and bombs to destroy democracy. You just need a free online petition.

But this isn’t really about the red-neck DUP. This is about stopping Brexit. Back in 2015, the New Statesman told us the DUP were Labour’s allies in the General Election battle:

DUP could do a deal with Labour, says party’s Westminster leader – Nigel Dodds says he “can do business” with Ed Miliband and praises his responsible capitalism agenda.

George Eaton had encouraging news on how the DUP and Labour could unite to stop the Tories:

The Northern Irish party is traditionally viewed as a potential partner for the Conservatives, who considered a deal with them before the 2010 election. But when I interviewed the DUP’s Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, he rejected this characterisation and signalled that he was open to an agreement with Labour.

“We can do business with either of the two leaders, either Ed Miliband or David Cameron, and we will obviously judge what’s in the best interests of the United Kingdom as a whole,” the North Belfast MP told me. “And obviously we’ll also be looking at it from the point of view of the constituencies that we represent in Northern Ireland as a whole. Unionism has worked in the past with Labour governments and we’ve worked in the past with Conservative governments back in the 70s. Indeed, the Ulster Unionist Party propped up the Callaghan administration. But it remains to be seen. We are certainly not in the pocket of either party and we’re certainly in a position where we’re able to negotiate with both of them.”

How ambitious were the DUP? Said Dodds: “We are not interested in a full-blown coalition government with ministerial positions and all of that.” The NS was delighted, calling the DUP’s openness “a boost for Labour”.

The Guardian said “senior Labour and Tory figures believe they will be able to work constructively with the DUP”. Labour saw the DUP as a “reliable partner”. The DUP had a “more natural affinity to Labour”. As for the DUP’s views on homosexuality – Ian Paisley, the party’s founder, once campaigned to “save Ulster from sodomy” – well, that wasn’t an issue:

Labour and the Tories are both troubled by the views of many DUP members on LGBT rights, highlighted by the resignation of the party’s health minister. But that would have no technical impact on negotiations over the formation of a UK government – LGBT matters are devolved to the Northern Ireland assembly.

Wind the clock forward and the DUP are no longer the party of Labour hope, who get on with Labour leaders “extremely well”.  They are regressive and anti-human. They are the “ultra-conservative DUP”, says the Guardian. “The DUP has vetoed the legalisation of same-sex marriage five times in Northern Ireland assembly votes. A majority of DUP members also oppose the legalisation of abortion, which is prohibited in Northern Ireland unless the mother’s life is at risk.”

The “DUP is undoubtedly bad news for the pro-choice movement in Northern Ireland”, says one New Statesman writer. The DUP’s rise to prominence will “embolden other anti-choice MPs”. Another writer tells New Statesmen readers: “Any government that includes the DUP is profoundly bad news for women.” All of them, including Arlene Foster, the DUP’s leader, because “women have the equal opportunity to be depressing misogynists too”. Or to put it another way: not all women agree with one another; they can hold their own views and exercise free will in decision making.

All abortion should be decriminalised. Birth control should be a private matter. But to call the DUP women haters is unhelpful, hyperbolic and deliberately polarising. It’s meant to be, of course. If the DUP are bad for women’s right then any Brexit contracts signed by a Tory-DUP alliance will be bad for women. Ditch the DUP and save womankind. But with no DUP there can be no easy Brexit. Better yet, there’ll be no Brexit at all.

So add your name to the online poll, and defeat the free and legal vote for Brexit, one backed by over 17m low-information, tabloid-duped people between 7am and 10pm on a June day last year. Do it for the many, not the few.

PS: This dicing up of the electorate into gender, race and age is hideous. We don’t vote with our skin, genitals or student ID. We vote with our heads, hearts and wallets. The narrative that says Labour is the party of youth overlooks the number of younger voters who voted Tory and the older voters who were unnerved by the so-called dementia tax and turned away from Theresa May. It also ignores how fluid voting has become. UKIP’s collapse was down to its voters turning to Labour and the Conservatives. Fudge Brexit and UKIP may yet rise again. A return to ‘safe and secure’ two-party politics is far from guaranteed.

 

Posted: 10th, June 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment

Jeremy Corbyn celebrates by high fiving Emily Thornberry’s breasts

A jubilant Jeremy Corbyn appears to high-five Emily Thornberry’s breast as Labour score biggest slice of the vote in decades. Theresa May’s not the only one who feels like a right tit.

 

corbyn gif thornberry

 

Labour surely delighted the polls closed before that.

Posted: 9th, June 2017 | In: Gifs, Politicians | Comment

GE17: low-key Russian influence in Stoke Newington polling station

To the Tyssen Community Primary School polling station in Stoke Newington, Hackney, London.

(Please excuse the repetition but there’s some kind of echo on our communications devices. Hello, Moscow… Over….)

Posted: 8th, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment

Election Day tabloids: Corbyn missing, May mocked and bigots burn Untermensch newspapers

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

It’s “TEZZA v JEZZA” (Daily Star) and the tabloids are going big on the leaders of the country’s two biggest parties.

Which leader’s picture appears most?

 

 

The Daily Star leads with photos of Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May. Corbyn looks like he’s flicking through some old holiday snaps of his time with Diane Abbott. Theresa May is in full Joyce Grenfell mode. Inside the paper, over pages 2 and 3, both leaders are smiling.

 

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

It’s just May on the Express‘ cover. No sign of Corbyn until page 12. “We must not let Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10,” says Ross Clark at first sighting of the Labour leader.

 

 

The Mirror finds a horrible picture of May and makes it big and then bigger. Get a load of those nostrils! Gerra load of those bogies up those nostrils!! And then look at the bags below the staring eyes, the teeth, the lips, the lot. Aaaaaah! There is no sign of Corbyn. Where is he?

 

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

On pages 2-3, we get 7 more pictures of May – and not one of Corbyn. We see and hear from Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary. We see May with a long Pinocchio hooter.

 

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

Finally we get to see Jeremy Corbyn on page 4. He’s inviting us to examine the thumb on his right hand. In a smaller photo, we see his right hand held up and open. You wonder what the left hand is doing and if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing.

There are two more pictures of Theresa May. On page 7, there’s a cartoon showing May being kicked – physically kicked – by a battalion of voters.

 

Theresa May the mirror

 

On page 8, we again see May. She’s everywhere in the Mirror.

The Daily Mail leads with May. She is smiling. Her hands are spread wide. The picture is flattering.

Page 4 and May’s back. She’s “fired up”.

Page 9 and we see picture of Diane Abbott. But sill no sign of Jeremy Corbyn. He’s nowhere. There is not one photo of the Labour Party leader in the Mail.

 

Corbyn the sun bin

This man is rubbish – actual rubbish

 

The Sun shows Corbyn on the cover. He’s in the “COR-BIN (geddit?). He is rubbish, actual rubbish. (If anyone fancies a flutter, I’d go each-way on Puppet of Unions in the 3:15).

Over pages 2 and 3, we see two photos of smiling Theresa May.

 

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

On pages 4 and 5 we see Jeremy Corbyn stood below a sign that says “CRAP”. It did say “SCRAP”  – another sort of rubbish, if you will – but if you crop the ‘S’ it’s changed to “CRAP”.

 

Jeremy Crobyn Theresa May GE17

 

Pages 8-9 and the Sun dresses up Corbyn. We see the now Prime Minister sat on a bench in “derelict Britain”. We get one more photo of a smiling May.

Meanwhile… the kind of people who don’t like tabloids and the Untermensch who read them are burning the things. It really is like the 1930s. And it’s not Nazis shutting down free speech and monstering anyone you don’t agree with – it’s you, the right on fascist spotters! Oh, the irony!

 

GE17 burning newspapers

 

Psst: Any Corbyn fans got a copy of the Jewish Chronicle? It’s full of burning issues.

Vote now and vote often. RAUS!

Posted: 8th, June 2017 | In: News, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

GE17: who wants to see Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘money shot’?

As Cuck Norris tweets: “When phrases enter the language and you use them, but you have no idea of their meaning or derivation: a short treatise.”  has treated Twitter users to Jeremy Corbyn’s “Money shot”.

 

jeremy corbyn money shot labour GE17 fail

 

Collins dictionary defines ‘money shot’: “a shot in a pornographic film in which a male performer is seen to ejaculate.”

Spotter: Cuck Norris 

Posted: 7th, June 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

GE17: Nuanced tabloids leave voters in a dither

It’s the eve of the 2017 General Election and the the papers remain undecided. It’s all very nuanced at the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Sun.

 

 

One tabloid does, however, make it position clear: Jeremy Corbyn’s cup is empty in the Daily Mirror.

 

Posted: 7th, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

After London Bridge: we’ve had ‘Enough is Enough’ of Jeremy Corbyn (paper review)

The London Bridge and Borough Market terror attacks – how do the tabloids cover the massacre? All share the same news of heroic deeds, horrific injuries and barbarity. But their different treatment of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn is notable. Which of the political leaders do you trust to keep us safe?

 

the star london bridge

 

Daily Star (front page): “HEROES”

The paper focuses first not on the Islamist extremists who murdered people, rather on the people who helped defeat them and help the injured. We meet Gerard Vowles and Geoff Ho.

Page 2 – 3: “HUNTING FOR VICTIMS”. Now we get to the killers, who wielded foot-long hunting knives and used a truck to slaughter people. And then to the heroes once more.

GEEZER: Gerard Vowles, a proper Londoner who makes us proud. He went to help a woman being set upon by the murderers. He “pelted the killers with pint glasses, bottles and chairs”.

GEEZER: A woman “wedged herself in a restaurant door to stop the gang bursting in and attacking diners”. We do not know her name. But she held things up long enough for 20 people to escape.

GEEZER: A cabbie tried to run down the killers with his taxi. (More on him later.)

GEEZER: A copper took on all three killers. He was armed with a baton. He was stabbed many times. He survived.

GEEZER: Geoff Ho is a journalist for the Sunday Express. He was stabbed in the neck trying to help a doorman under attack. He tweeted: “Don’t know whether it was stupid or noble to jump in and break up the fight outside the  Southwark Tavern, but two a*******s trying to do over a lone bouncer on the door isn’t happening on my watch.”

(It’s great that the Star is unable to repeat the word “arseholes” but finds no issue carrying adverts for “Proper Filthy Girls” and an invitation to phone in and “Listen to Mother & Daughter” aural sex. Apparently, incest is ok but arseholes are taboo.)

The paper produces grainy photos of the killers waking through Borough Market. We also see one of them dead on the floor, killed by a policeman. The copper’s a geezer, too, as are all the police who raced to help.

Pages 4-5: “Dozens held in Armed Swoops”

Police raided a block of flats in Barking, where one of the killers reportedly lived. He was, says a neighbour, a “nice guy” who “rewarded favours with curry”. Says Mohammed, a neighbour who had jump-started the soon-to-be killer’s car: “I told him to forget about giving me money. The next day he turned up with a lovely chicken biryani that we all enjoyed.” The killer was also seen wearing an Arsenal shirt – the one he was wearing when he murdered so many. “I couldn’t believe it. I had seen him in that shirt at 5pm that evening,” says another neighbour.

Another adds: “He approached me yesterday and asked me where I hired a van recently. He said he was going to move house… He was being nicer than normal… He was always nice, but yesterday he was an entirely different level of niceness.”

Evil is banal.

Page 6- 7: “MAY: THIS IS WAR – PM vows to crush Islam extremist.” May is “defiant”. But Jeremy Corbyn did a”U-turn”, changing his “long-held  opinion that he was not ‘happy’ with the police’s shoot-to-kill policy.”

Page 21: The horror occupies readers’ minds. They text in their views (click the image to enlarge):

 

 

Daily Express (front page): ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”:

The paper echoes the words Theresa May used to condemn the slaughter.

Page 2-3: “Jihadis walked around like outlaws at the OK Corral.” Sticking with the idea of this being the wild West, the paper issues a phone poll. The question runs: “Is now the time to round up suspects?”

The paper reminds us that the killers wore dummy suicide vests. They yelled, “This is for Allah.” The paper’s editor tells readers of the woman on London Bridge pleading with her stabbed partner: “Stay with me please, I love you. Come on, please. Don’t let those fuckers get away with it.” He says Donald Trump is right to ridicule our politicians for being “politically correct in our reaction to these outrages”.  And “Theresa May is right when she says Enough is Enough.”

Page 3: “Marksmen threaten to shoot a fleeing suspect in pyjamas.” To West Ham, where an eyewitness tells us about a police raid: “Then a young black man, barefoot and in pyjamas came out of the window. They were shouting ‘We will shoot you if you don’t go back in… the police officer was ready to shoot.”

Page 4: “We fought toff jihadis with bottles and hid in cellars and cupboards.”

We hear from Mark Stembridge, owner of Cafe Brood: “Three Asian guys came down the steps after crashing the van. I saw them with the knives. They each had a knife in their hands. They were about 10-12 inches long. The staff reacted very quickly. We had about 130 customers and 15 staff working. We all got inside but we don’t have doors only shutters. The staff protected all the customers and the three guys just hesitated and then they went off.”

Page 4: Elizabeth O’Neill’s son, Daniel O’Neill, was stabbed. The killers told him: “This is for my family, this is for Islam.” Mrs O’Neill calls her son’s attackers “cowards”. She is remarkably restrained. They wanted to kill him.

Page 6: More from the cabbie who tried to run down one of the killers. He had a fare in the back when he saw their rented van crash on London Bridge. “I said I am going to try and hit him, knock him over, so I spun the cab round and was about to ram one of them, but he side-stepped and three police officers came running towards them with batons drawn.” The cabbie told everyone to run. Student nurse Rhiannon Owen is grateful. “I’ve been trying to find the driver all day on social media. I owe him my life.”

Black Cab drivers, eh, salt of the earth. One part of Chris’s – that’s all we know of him – testimony makes me smile: “I saw the van went between one of the traffic light systems. There is an area called Nancy Steps, famous for the film Oliver!.” You don’t get that in an Uber. Chris is a top geezer.

 

Theresa May terror speech express

 

And now we get to Jeremy Corbyn. We read that one of his “leading supporters” has “described Islamic terrorists as ‘freedom fighters'”. It’s Barbara Ntumy  – pronounced numpty? – who reportedly tweeted in July 2014: “One mans jihadist / terrorist is another mans freedom fighter #JustSaying.” She is quoted: “I absolutely 100 per cent condemn terrorism.” Is it fair to drag up an old tweet now? Isn’t Corbyn enough?

On Page 9, we hear of “Nauseating” Jeremy Corbyn, a man who “in the recent past has called Islamic terrorist groups and the IRA ‘friends’ and opposed every piece of anti-terror legislation”. Security Minister Ben Wallace says: “Voters will judge him [Corbyn] on his views and actions in the last 30 years, not his desperate promises and evasive soundbites three days from polling day.” Is Corbyn tough on crime and terror? Express readers get to read Theresa May’s statement in full. They do not hear Corbyn’s.

 

the mirror london bridge

 

 

Daily Mirror (front page): “MONSTERS”

The word dehumanises them. The killers were men.

Page 2 -3: “FACING DOWN EVIL”. We meet the “revellers fighting back against the attackers”. The paper mention religion once in its lead story. It does so when quoting Theresa May, who stated that she would fight the “evil ideology of Islamist extremism”.

Page 4-5: We hear more of the woman begging her partner to hang on. It’s heartbreaking. We do not know if Peter survived. To consider one story up close brings the pain to the fore. The numbers of dead and injured we read and consider as facts. Peter and his lover are intensely human. It’s unbearable.

Page 6-7: “TOWER OF TERROR.”

Police raided the Elizabeth Fry tower in Barking, East London. In all, they made 12 arrests. Chris Hughes, the paper’s defence editor, praises police and MI5. They have “smashed… more than a dozen major plots” cooked up by “Islamist terrorism since 9/11”. MI5 operates with a “professionalism” other intelligence agencies “can only dream of”.

Page 8-9: “People hurled tables, chairs and glasses at then..they weren’t going to stand back.”

Page 10-11: “I looked into his eyes and thought he was going to pull the pin & blow us up.”

 

Theresa May terror speech mirror

 

Page 14-15: Only now does the paper turn to politics. We see Theresa May declaring “Enough’s enough.” We get it. The words chime. The paper picks out another of her lines: “Terrorism breeds terrorism…they are copying one another.” And then we get to Jeremy Corbyn. He looks smaller than May. His line runs: “Our police, nurses, firefighters deserve a pay rise. They can’t get by on her warm words.” Get that? In talking of terror and the fight against it, the Mirror backs Corbyn to get better rates for public sector workers. If the voters decide terrorism is the key issue, Corbyn’ scuppered. The Mirror is realistic. Corbyn being tough on terror does not resonate.

Page 16-17: “PM: Net giants give hate ‘safe space to breed.” May is no champion of free speech. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, the killers most likely used phones, roads and drank tea as they plotted. Why not clamp down on those things, too? The Mirror does not condemn Mays illiberalism. It finds an echo in the shape of the no less authoritarian Yvette Cooper. The paper affords the Labour MP and ex-shadow home secretary a platform to say the big web companies must do mote to stamp out “extremist recruitment online”. If Cooper is worth a listen, then why not the current shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott? Is she hard on terror? Is she in hiding until after the election? Is Cooper the future of Labour? If she is, then blimey, they really are shafted.

Pages 18-19: “Richard Angell says the terrorists will not win. More on him here.

Page 20-21: “GIVE MORE COPS GUNS”

Is that a good idea?

 

the mail london bridge

 

Daily Mail (Front page): “Bloody day all of Britain said: Enough is enough.” The message is clear: Theresa May speaks for us all.

Page 2-3: The Mail says at least one of the killers was known to the security services. We’re told he’s the Watford-born man wearing the Arsenal shirt. We’re told of claims he “became radicalised by watching extremist videos on YouTube”.  Funny how it goes that way around: you watch the video then become a killer. Might it be that he liked Islamic extremism and any videos just entertained him? If we present the killers as empty vessels to be easily moulded by a video, we remove some of their own free will from the crime. We move closer to making them victims. And – boy – do Islamists like to be victims.

Page 4-5: More photos of the carnage. Pictures of the dead and injured. Who needs YouTube? If looking can turn you into a killer, should we look at the papers?

Page 6-15:  More and more photos of the injured; more stories of heroism, defiance and bravery – “The fucker stabbed me in the neck,” says Candice Hedge (the Mail says “f*****s” ; dead bodies are ok in the Mail but swearing might influence impressionable minds).

Page 16-17: “MAY: CURB THE HATE ON WEB.”

Page 18: “Hours after latest horror, IS terror guides sill online.”

 

 

Page 19: Richard Littlejohn – “I’m sick of politicians pussy footing around. As they won’t says it, I will – we ARE at war.” He asks if the nation can take Jeremy Corbyn seriously on matters of national security. Hold your tongue. The question is rhetorical. The answer is coming thick and thicker.

Page 20: “There country is not reeling – but nor are we appeasers of terror like Corbyn,” says Dominic Lawson.

Page 21: “Corbyn’s 30 Years of Talking to Terrorists.”

 

 

The Sun (front page): “JIHADI KILLER IS AN ARSENAL SHIRT.”

Football. The Sun has done it and made football a key part of the story. (Add it to the list of unwelcome endorsements.) We learn that the killer in the old Arsenal top was called ‘Abz’.

Page 2-3: “8 Cops. 50 Shots. 3 Losers burning in Hell.” Is Donald Trump writing the Sun’s headlines?

Pages 4-5: “A girl burst in, her neck spurting blood, and grabbed me.”

Page 6-7: “4 Women Among 12 Arrested.” To which the response is: so? Or: How many Spurs fans?

Page 8-9: “We Stopped Them – Bouncer lobs seats at 3 killers. Leads fiends to be shot by police.” Ozzy the doorman is a geezer. “I realised I had to do something,” he says. “… Me and another guy started launching bar stools, bottles and glasses at them… They ran through the barrage and we deflected them and they literally ran  straight into the cops who shot them.” Says Ozzy’s mate: “Ozzy’s an absolute hero.”

Page 10-15: More tales of courage, heartache and horror.

Page 16-17: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.”

May’s soundbite might just produce the predicted Tory landslide. Corbyn is once more attacked over his ‘U-turn’.

Page 18: “Corbyn is a real threat to security”, says Trevor Kavanagh. The Sun says a vote for May is a vote to “make Britain safer”.

Such are the facts.

 

Posted: 5th, June 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

Jeremy Corbyn ‘looks forward to an asteroid wiping out humanity’

In 2004,Jeremy Corbyn was one of three signatories on an anti-human motion.

 

Jeremy Corbyn pigeons

 

 

Early day motion 1255

Session: 2003-04
Date tabled: 21.05.2004
Primary sponsor: Banks, Tony

Sponsors:
That this House is appalled, but barely surprised, at the revelations in M15 files regarding the bizarre and inhumane proposals to use pigeons as flying bombs; recognises the important and live-saving role of carrier pigeons in two world wars and wonders at the lack of gratitude towards these gentle creatures; and believes that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet and looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again.

Nice opinion to the electorate, Jeremy.

Tory Peter Bottomley amended that to the hope that “humans and other creatures may with luck have the chance to live together again”.

Posted: 5th, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Strange But True | Comment

Tory MP tweets: ‘Vote Conservative for strong and stable leadershit’

James Conwyn MP, Conservative Candidate for Earlingford Abbey, tweets:

Posted: 4th, June 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

How to survive Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Nuclear Meltdown’

Don’t panic! Jeremy Corbyn might trigger a “Nuclear Meltdown” should the leader of the hollowed out Labour Party make it into Number 10, but surviving the atomic holocaust is just a matter of picking the right level of sun cream. The Daily Mail is here to help its readers survive.

 

Jeremy Corbyn daily mail

 

Factor 5million should just about do it.

Posted: 3rd, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

Ken Loach for Jeremy Corbyn: vote Theresa May if you hate your kids

Ken Loach Jeremy Corbyn hate kids

 

 

Ken Loach’s ad for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is… Well, it’s incredible. Theresa May stars in the Milk Snatcher II:

 

Posted: 3rd, June 2017 | In: Reviews | Comment

BBC admits to ‘election rigging’

Finally! The BBC has admitted what so many suspected: they’ve been ‘rigging” the election:

Posted: 3rd, June 2017 | In: Strange But True, TV & Radio | Comment

GE17 tabloid review: Corbyn’s cat, May’s death and go Amber!

GE17: a look at tabloid reporting on the big debate.

 

Theresa May tabloid biased reporting Jeremy Corbyn

 

Daily Mirror (front page): “Tories are plotting to stab PM in the back”.

No sign of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the Mirror’s cover, just news that should Theresa May not win a “hefty election majority” Tories will “ditch her”. May is shown looking tight-lipped.

You know it’s looking bad for Labour when the Labour-supporting newspaper finds solace in anything other than a Tory landslide.

There is no mention of Jeremy Corbyn until page 6.

Indeed, in this front-page story, May is name-checked 11 times; Corbyn just twice. Corbyn’s image only appears in a small photo on a left-hand page. And even then he’s not alone.

 

Theresa May tabloid biased reporting Jeremy Corbyn

 

Page 6 -7: “May has to land a huge majority or she’ll be hung out to dry by the Tories,” states the paper. Stabbed and hanged. Brutal stuff. But more likely May will get a great pension and more time to sort out the bins.

On page 7 Jason Beattie says May has “no personality”. She has “sabotaged the Tory campaign”. She is “brittle and desperate”.  Jason isn’t keen on her.

Page 6: “Labour will storm ahead with its blueprint for Britain if it becomes the largest party in a hung parliament.” It will storm ahead before getting caught in an eddy and going nowhere. “If we are the largest party, we go ahead – no deals,” says shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be.

Page 7: We get to look at Labour Party winner. “Tony Blair called Sedgefield County Durham his ‘spiritual and political home’,” says Paul Routledge. Yep. it’s Blair, who keeps his money in London. Routledge says it’s “unthinkable” Sedgefield, the seat Blair sat in for 24 years come war, more war and even more war, will turn Tory blue this June. So unthinkable is it that Routledge has written a column on the matter.  The Labour candidate for Sedgefield is Phil Wilson, who tells locals: “What people want is someone born and brought up here. Whose kids went to school here.” Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh. He lives in London. Best of luck, Phil.

Daily Express (front page): “Corbyn Doesn’t Believe In Britain.”

Well, so says Theresa May.

Pages 4-5: “Corbyn? He’s a man who has no plan, says May”

The Daily Express produces a phone poll: “Does Corbyn have what it takes to run Britain?” it asks. Calls are 50p each. Keep an open mind before deciding which number to call for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Keep your mind so open your brains fall out.

Page 5: “Greater Tory majority will ensure Brexit is easier, claims think tank”. The Express campaigned for UKIP and Brexit. Make the link.

Page 5: “Corbyn backed squatters crusade”. In 2013, Corbyn “helped organise a meeting for the Squatters Action for Secure Homes (Squash) at the House of Commons.”

Daily Mail (front page): “Corbyn’s Sly Death Trap”

The paper cites “new figures” which “suggest… Jeremy Corbyn will drag an extra 1.2 million family homes into  the grip of inheritance tax if he wins the election.”

Vote Corbyn, then. We can all default on our mortgages and squat for free. The kids will love it. Sleep over! But wait. The “policy is not in the Labour manifesto, but appears in a separate costings document.”

Corbyn is mentioned three times on the Mail’s front page. Theresa May is not mentioned once. Indeed, in this front-page story, Corbyn is name-checked 12 times; May just twice. The Mirror and Mail agree on one thing: the other leader is a vote winner for the wrong side.

 

Theresa May tabloid biased reporting Jeremy Corbyn

 

Page 6: “Tories go to war with BBC over Left-wing audience bias.” The paper updates readers on that BBC TV debate May did not take part in. Before you watch May and Corbyn on Question Time – yep, there is a televised leaderzzzzzz’ debate – the paper warns readers that the BBC might be biased to the Left.

Page 7: “For those of you a little hard of learning, the paper produces “How ‘impartial’ BBC has kept up a relentless attack on the Tories”.

Page 8-9:  We get to learn what else Corbyn doesn’t believe in. “He doesn’t believe in Brexit.” So there.

Daily Star (front page): “TV Caroline Love Isle Lesbian Romps.” Vote now!

Page 4: “Seven Days To Save UK, May Warns Voters”. Corbyn is 7-2 to win the vote. Save your money for something worthwhile, like a Daily Express phone poll or a wishing well.

 

Theresa May tabloid biased reporting Jeremy Corbyn

 

The Sun (front page): “Corbyn’s magic money tree will cost families extra ÂŁ3.5k-a-year.”

Corbyn’s manifesto is full of “far-fetched election bribes” that would “blow a ÂŁ300bn hole in Britain’s finances”.  On page 2, the Sun reminds readers that the “hard hitting ‘money-tree’ phrase was coined by Home Secretary Amber Ruud.”  Amber. Amber. Amber. The papers love her. May should frisk her for knives.

Page 8: “Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn even believes his cat supports the hard left.” Mr Cobyn says the cat – called ‘El Gato – has shown “socialist tendencies” in allowing a stray cat to share its food.

Jeremy Corbyn has a cat! Dog owners, you know what to do.

 

 

Posted: 2nd, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

GE17 Cambridge debate: media bias, missing May and Corbyn’s balls

Cambridge debate GE17

 

Last night’s election debate featured  seven politicians, none of whom were Theresa May. How do the tabloids report on the show at Cambridge University?

The Sun front page: “PM: VOTE TORY FOR BEST BREXIT.”

Having trailed Theresa May’s big speech on Brexit (page 1), used an editorial to argue that she must do more than say “I’m not Jeremy Corbyn” (Page 8) and invited Tory MEP Daniel Hannan on to write below the headline “Dodgy dealer Jezza will Wrexit Britain” (Page 8), readers get to the debate on Pages 10 and 11.

Pages 10 -11: “WEAKEST LINK JEZ – Corbyn walloped by all six opponents in debate.”

The paper says Corbyn’s “surprise” 11th hour decision to take part in the TV debate “backfired”. The show was an “ugly shouting match”. Who won? “The most withering assault on Mr Corbyn came from Tory Home Secretary Amber Rudd.” Corbyn “came under fire for being weak from Leave and Remain supporters”. Corbyn “gaffed on the economy”.

Readers do hear from May, who says: “I think debates where the politicians are squabbling among themselves doesn’t do anything for the process of electioneering.”

Daily Mirror (front page): “Nadia: I’m going bald”.

Bigger than the debate is news that TV presenter Nadia is losing her hair. The debate appears on Pages 6 and 7.

Pages 6 – 7: “Leaderless and heartless – Rivals blast PM’s TV debate no-show. Rudd steps in despite father’s death.”

The paper begins by telling readers that Corbyn changed his mind about taking part in the debate. Why? We’re not told. But it looks like it was about upstaging May, who “left Amber Rudd to parrot the Tory line  – despite the Home Secretary’s father dying 48 hours earlier.” In the paper’s mind that means May is “heartless”. But surely Rudd wanted to take part. And doesn’t carrying on in the face of personal pain suggest a strong and  – lest it go unsaid – stable character?

As for why she was chosen to take part – or chose to: shadow home secretary Diane Abbott had been booked to argue Labour’s case. Home Secretary Rudd v Abbott would have been a valid debate. No?

The paper also notes that the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, for it is she, “sent her deputy Angus Robertson”. Nicola wasn’t there either. The Mirror says the Green’s Caroline Lucas, LibDem’s Tim Farron and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood mocked May for her no show; Sturgeon escaped any attack.

The Mirror says Rudd “struggled” and “squirmed”. Corbyn was “stunning”. The audience”cheered” Corbyn.

Daily Mail (front page): “FURY AT BIAS ON BBC TV DEBATE – TV chiefs under fire over ‘the most Left win audience ever’.”

The paper says “even BBC presenter Mishal Husain was heckled when she pointed out he [Corbyn] had been unable to set out the cost of his flagship child care policy”. Corbyn was “repeatedly cheered despite a meandering performance”.

The paper’s quote about the audience being skewed towards Corbyn comes from George Eaton, “political editor of the Labour-supporting New Statesman magazine”, who opined:” This feels like the most left-wing audience in any TV debate.”

Page 6: “CORBYN’S L-LA-LAND ECONOMICS”

Page 7: “An audience as balanced as a gorilla on a unicycle,” says Quentin Letts – in a view about as balanced as a trout on LSD. Jeremy Corbyn, evasive on immigration, was rewarded with whoops and wolf whistles. Welcome to the BBC!” May did well to stay away from this “bent, babyish custard-pie fight”. It was a “demeaning brawl”. Corbyn and Robertson “found themselves sniping simultaneously at Miss Rudd. Two angry men shouting at a younger women. Great look, guys.” So much for equality (and gerraload of Amber’s legs!).

Daily Express (front page): “Corbyn’s Plot To Bring In Migrant Workers”

The debate features first on page 5.

Page 5: “Rudd blasts the ‘Jeremy money tree’.”

Rudd mocked Corbyn for his “fantasy economics” in a “heated live television clash”. May is praised for sticking to her decision not to take part whilst Corbyn U-turned. Rudd landed “body blows” on Corbyn. And, er, that’s it.

Daily Star (front page): “Corbyn does a U-turn”

Page 4: “Corbyn’s U-Turn”. The Labour leader “tried to wrongfoot Theresa May”.

Such are the facts.

 

Posted: 1st, June 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

UKIP candidate campaigns for inter-stellar colony ship for ‘the chance to begin anew’

Check out this brilliant flyer from Suffolk UKIP candidate Aidan Powlesland. He calls for a fleet of inter-steller vehicles to mine Saturn’s astroid belt for platinum and water. Why? For “the chance to begin anew”.

 

UKIP flyer funny GE17

UKIP candidate Aidan Powlesland

 

Spotter: Johnny Paige

Posted: 26th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Technology | Comment

News Boob: BBC News reporter brushes off a lurker by pushing her breast

bbc ben brown boob

 
Live News is hard. So spare a thought for BBC reporter Ben Brown confronted with an unwelcome guest. He sees her off in unconventional fashion:

 

 

Spotter: Reddit

Posted: 16th, May 2017 | In: TV & Radio | Comment

He’s right: Jeremy Corbyn’s high income does not make him wealthy

jeremy corbyn money

 

Is Jeremy Corbyn a wealthy man? We don’t know. We haven’t seen his tax returns. All we do know is that he earns well. The UK average salary is around ÂŁ27,000 a year. Corbyn earns more than ÂŁ137,000  year. According to the Mirror, the pay gap is a “grotesque chasm between a rich one per cent and the other 99% of the country”.

Is Corbyn grotesquely rich? An annual income of ÂŁ100,000 is enough to put you comfortably within the top 2% of all earners.

The Mail spots Corbyn speaking with Julie Etchingham on ITV’s Tonight show:

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has REFUSED to say that he is a wealthy man – despite earning more than ÂŁ137,000…

He said: ‘I consider myself adequately paid, very adequately paid for what I do…. What I do with it is a different matter. I consider myself well paid for what I do and I am wanting to say to everyone who’s well off, make your contribution to our society.’

Ms Etchingham, 47, reminded him that people at home will be ‘shouting at the TV saying “of course you’re a wealthy man on a ÂŁ137,000″‘.

But he replied: ‘No, I’m not wealthy because of where I put the money, but I’m not going into that.’

He’s right. Wealth is having a great deal of money, resources, or assets. We don’t know if Jeremy Corbyn is wealthy. We do know that he is paid well and his income affords him choices. Wealth inequality is not the same as income inequality. The two can be linked. But they are not cause and effect.

 

Posted: 15th, May 2017 | In: Money, Politicians | Comment

Paul Nuttall’s comedy walk goes viral – UKIP leader walks on the spot in election video?

UKIP leader Paul Nuttall stars in his party’s election broadcast. He appears to be going nowhere. Maybe it’s the world that turns as he stands still?

Spotter: RossFairbairn

Posted: 12th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

Boris Johnson and Michael Fallon support Theresa May’s ‘extremely dangerous’ and ‘catastrophic’ plan to cap energy prices

Vote Theresa May and you will be voting for lower energy prices. The Daily Mail is delighted by May’s move – and far more delighted when then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband proposed pretty much the same thing in 2013.

But what about two of May’s Cabinet, Michael Fallon and Boris Johnson – what do they think about the idea of capping energy prices and indulging in what the Mail called “pure economic vandalism” that would turn the lights off all over the country?

 

“We have not seen intervention in industry on a scale like this since the 1970s when they tried to control the price of bread.” – Michael Fallon, current Defence Secretary

“Miliband says he will imitate the catastrophic policies of the emperor Diocletian, by imposing a price freeze on energy bills for the 20 months succeeding the election.” – Boris Johnson, current Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson had more to say in the in the Telegraph:

“I find it rather incredible that he can seriously pretend to want to do something for the hard-pressed energy consumers in this country, and I find it astounding that so many people are falling for his Wonga-like offer.

“He says he will imitate the catastrophic policies of the emperor Diocletian, by imposing a price freeze on energy bills for the 20 months succeeding the election. And, er, then what? Well, then the energy companies will, of course, recoup their losses by whacking the prices jaggedly upwards again.

“In the meantime, the Labour government would have achieved all sorts of undesirable outcomes. By their meddling jiggery-pokery, they will send out the worst possible message to anyone thinking of investing in this country, or buying shares in British businesses.

“Worse still, perhaps, he will trigger all sorts of perverse behaviour by the companies – none of which is likely to be in the interests of the consumer. The energy companies will sullenly cut costs by laying off staff – so that you spend even longer waiting for a human being to answer the phone, and have to wait in all day for a repair man to come.”

And there was Michael Fallon again at the Tory Party conference:

“Tony Blair took [Labour] away from that; he knew that only business can create wealth and jobs. Now they are signalling the kind of Labour government that would intervene in industry on a scale we haven’t seen since the 1970s, when they tried to control the price of bread.”

“You don’t reduce the pressure on the cost of living by directly interfering in the way that companies invest here… That is extremely dangerous.”

The lads are right behind you, Theresa.

Posted: 11th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

What the biased Daily Mail said when Theresa May and Ed Miliband tried to fix energy prices

Compare and contras the Daily Mail’s treatment of news that:

a) A Conservative Government will cap energy prices. (May 9, 2017)
b) A Labour Government will cap energy prices (september 25, 2013)

 

daily mail energy bills theresa may

 

Aside from the identity of the blonde in the Mail’s crosshairs and the top ticker moan about the poor state of modern life, the headlines show how the messenger can be more important than the message.

 

 

The Mail is delighted by Theresa May’s move.

 

April 11 may energy daily mail

April 11, 2017

 

Liz Gerard has more:

 

daily mail bias labour tory

 

Now read what May’s Cabinet thought of her idea.

Posted: 11th, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment

Local Elections make Labour elite choke on their quinoa

Why has the Labour vote evaporated? Maybe it’s because Labour stopped representing the people it was created to represent. It is a party not fit for purpose.

Aditya Chakrabortty looks at Labour’s Welsh problem in the Guardian. In the recent local council elections Labour lost its Welsh heartland council of Blaenau Gwent to independents.

For decades, Labour took this area and its other heartlands for granted – while it flirted with Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman. It parachuted in its plastic professional politicians – just think of the way Tristram Hunt was airlifted into Stoke – and ignored the need to nurture local talent. Now in Wales and elsewhere, it is paying the price of decades of ingrained arrogance.

No. It’s worse than that. Labour is utterly disconnected.

It’s Brexit, says Mick Hume:

Brexit has brought to a head the divorce between Labour and millions of working-class voters. Some 90-odd per cent of Labour MPs backed the establishment’s Remain campaign – including Corbyn, the ‘man of principle’ who shelved his longstanding Bennite principle of opposing the EU for the duration of the referendum campaign. More than 70 per cent of Labour MPs, however, represented seats where the majority of voters backed Leave.

As the newly elected Tory mayor of Tees Valley said after his victory in that supposed Labour stronghold last week, locals had ‘voted strongly for Leave but our local Labour opponents were all for Remain, making them completely unconnected’.

If you want to find individuals who epitomise Labour’s aloofness from the proles, their detachment and otherworldliness from people who don’t know how to pronounce quinoa (tip, it’s pronounced “Eugh!”) you could cop a load of pretty much any of Jeremy Cobyn’s shadow Cabinet but my pick has to be knowing anti-sexist Emily Thornberry.

When not mocking the working classes, the Islington MP is patronising. Speaking on Peston on Sunday Thornberry revealed her low opinion voters: “There is no alternative vision that the Tories are offering. It is not good enough for people to simply say ‘I like Theresa May’s hair’ or ‘I like that shade of blue’. Politics is not about that, politics is about how you change people’s lives.”

Next week, Emily will use her Missionary Masterclass to tell voters how to hold a pencil and that tobacco, although a leaf, is not one of their five a day.

Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

GE17: The reactionary Progressive Alliance will eat itself

The alternative to Theresa May’s Tories is to vote for a rival party. It pretty much doesn’t matter which one. They’ve decided to be the same. The BBC tells us:

Jeremy Corbyn needs to get round a table with the Greens to discuss ways of developing a progressive alliance, it’s co-leader Caroline Lucas has said.

Bit odd, no?

The alliance of Labour, Green, LibDem, SNP and whoever else opposes the Tories points to one alternative – a two party answer. You can have the one leader one nation Conservatives, or the multi-leader, one world alternative.

As Tim Worstall wonders, why not all just join the same party?

Robert Harries replies:

Because the Labour Party are far too pro-industrial socialism and (in theory) want to forward policies for material abundance for the masses, while the Greens are just austerity-socialists, middle class ‘moralists’ and neo-Malthusian moronic shites who aim for us all to be poor and think working class people going on cheap flights on holiday is a terrible thing.

It’s happening!

The Green Party has been the main driver of such alliances so far, having stood down for Labour or the Lib Dems in Ealing, Hove, Ilford, Hove, Oxford West and Abingdon, Richmond Park and Twickenham, while the Liberal Democrats agreed to stand down in Brighton Pavillion to enable Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas a better chance of retaining her seat.

Labour has meanwhile made it clear at a national level that it would not support such alliances, but activists in a number of constituencies have nonetheless defied such orders and decided not to back their own candidates in order to increase the chances for another progressive candidate in the region.

If you don’t back your own candidate – and how crap must they be? – you reduce the electorate’s choices. How is that progressive?

Lib Dem grandee Vince Cable has been caught on tape sharing such scandalous information that the Conservatives have felt honour-bound to release it to the general public.

In the “secret tapes”, Cable refers to Labour’s Rupa Huq, who is defending her marginal seat of Ealing Central and Acton…

Cable, who is fighting to regain his former seat in Twickenham, lets slip that he gave Huq a lift home after a TV appearance and they “talked for a couple of hours”. The former Coalition Business secretary then drops the bombshell: “It was very clear that on almost every issue our views were almost identical.” He urges “our people around the country” to “think and act in a constructive way”.

The plan seems simple: create an anti-democratic ego-led mess so that before long we’ll be begging to be controlled by the EU’s anti-democratic egomaniac technocrats.

 

Posted: 8th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment

Bloody Corbyn And Brexit: Voters’ deliver candid message to Labour

It turns out that having rubbished the electorate for being thick and voting the wrong way in the referendum, when you go asking for them to vote for you you get told to naff off.

The former leader of the Labour group on Leicestershire council, Robert Sharp, is upset. He tells the Leicester Mercury:

“I am personally disappointed but we saw it coming. I have said before that it has been tough on the doorstep. We have struggled to get local issues noticed.

“All we have had back at us is Brexit and ‘bloody Corbyn’. I don’t want to sound like a bitter candidate who has just lost his seat and is trying to blame someone else, but Jeremy Corbyn has had a negative impact on this campaign.”

Jeremy Corbyn brexit

Posted: 7th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment

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