General Election UK, June 8th...

[pErvinalia]

Almost seems like it. He never really had leadership ambitions anyway, did he?

[JimC]

Corbyn? He's had enough. Wants to get back to his vegetable plot. The plot he knows rather than the one he's involved in now. That's why he is happy.

Don't you knock vegetable plots!

[Scot Dutchy]

Almost seems like it. He never really had leadership ambitions anyway, did he?

He should have never been chosen and I said that from the beginning. I was vilified for my opinion but have been proven correct. Anyone who has been an MP for 40 years, never held any office and voted over 500 times against his party should have never come into the equation. He is now helping the opposition. He should have voted against the GE bill not saying he is looking forward to it when he has not got even his party behind him. He almost appears to want the UK to split and Brexit to happen. I wonder how much the tories are paying him?

[mistermack]

To call an election is a no-brainer.
She had to constantly say that she wouldn't. Anything else would have been crucified as dithering. Like Gordon Brown.

Telling the truth was not an option. The people get the lies that they deserve. They can't handle the truth. If she had said that she MIGHT call an election when the time was right, the country would have gone mental.

Corbyn has missed tricks all the way. Labour don't give a fuck about getting elected. Except the absolute loonies who actually BELIEVE the shit that they are coming out with. Who seem to be pulling the strings these days.

I've always voted Labour, except once, when I voted Tory to keep Neil Kinnock out.
I'll be voting Tory this time. Or possibly UKIP.

[PsychoSerenity]

I must try to remember that people who make comments online about any given issue are a self-selecting group and not necessarily representative of what most people think.

[Scot Dutchy]

I dont know how May thinks will strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. She has nothing to negotiate with so increasing it is not going to give her much.

[Svartalf]

It will give her a quieter home front, which is a good thing given she has nothing to negociate for on the EU front.

[Brian Peacock]

Corbyn's campaign launch today seemed to go down fairly well with the press and media, as an event that is, not necessarily his policies. Half the hall reserved for people to turn up on the day, rather than being packed with photogenic shills, the presentation of a 'fully costed manifesto' (well, they all say that don't they?) and he took a lot of questions from the floor and was available for interviews and questions from the media afterwards. By contrast, since Mr May's announcement of a snap election on Tuesday she's said exactly zero public words on the matter beyond an arranged series of interviews with the right-leaning papers that afternoon. Then again, maybe she doesn't need to do more than the bear minimum.

[mistermack]

the bear minimum.

[Scot Dutchy]

Then again, maybe she doesn't need to do more than the bear minimum.

So long as the opposition remains divided (which is also what Corbyn wants) she can just sit back and watch the annihilation.

Corbyn is longing for his allotment.

[mistermack]

Theresa May has got things to do.

Looking busy with important stuff will get her more votes than campaigning.

And if she's not constantly on the telly, people will assume she's working. She has every reason to keep a low profile.

[pErvinalia]

Corbyn's campaign launch today seemed to go down fairly well with the press and media, as an event that is, not necessarily his policies. Half the hall reserved for people to turn up on the day, rather than being packed with photogenic shills, the presentation of a 'fully costed manifesto' (well, they all say that don't they?) and he took a lot of questions from the floor and was available for interviews and questions from the media afterwards. By contrast, since Mr May's announcement of a snap election on Tuesday she's said exactly zero public words on the matter beyond an arranged series of interviews with the right-leaning papers that afternoon. Then again, maybe she doesn't need to do more than the bear minimum.

This is all that the people like MM and the Stockholm Syndrome class need. Sound bites and superficialities.

[pErvinalia]

If you think Jeremy Corbyn is a clown or a total waste of skin, it could be too late for you – you’ve already been brainwashed by a handful of foreign billionaires.

We all agree that newspapers play a crucial role in British democracy, but what is troubling is that the majority of the UK press is owned by a handful of right-wing billionaires, most of whom don’t live here. In fact, almost 80 per cent of our press is owned by a handful of mostly foreign-based billionaires.

They’ve already told you what to think on a multitude of issues. You think you made up your own mind, and you think you’re right. But, you didn’t, and you aren’t.

How do I know this? Because blind policy based voting results (whereby voters tick the policies they agree with, without knowing which party they were voting for overall) are always radically different to the actual vote result when it comes to general elections and other major political votes.

Had all votes been cast on policy pledges alone, studies suggest the Green Party and Liberal Democrats would have both had a turn at power by now.

What this means is that people generally have some sense when presented with policy pledges, yet vote in a completely opposite direction. Why? Because these chaps’ media outlets are bombarding your brain with high level right-wing propaganda:

Lord Rothermere, a billionaire living in France, owns the Mail, Mail on Sunday, and the Metro.
Rupert Murdoch, a billionaire living in Australia, owns the Sun, Sun on Sunday and is the man behind Fox News, BSkyB, News Corp, etc, etc.
Alexander and Evgeny (son) Lebedev, an Ex KGB Russian Billionaire, owns The Independent, Independent on Sunday, The Evening Standard.
Richard Desmond, a billionaire, owns the Daily Star, Sunday Star, Daily Express, Sunday Express.
David and Frederick Barclay, billionaire brothers living on a private island near Saark, own the Telegraph, The Spectator, and the Business.

The Sun, for example, claim to have backed the winner of each general election since the notorious Sun headline, ‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It’ referring to the 1992 John Major Tory victory.

The tabloid had led an increasingly personal campaign against the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock, culminating in the famous election day headline: “If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.”

The same campaign is running against Jeremy Corbyn right here, right now.

Think Corbyn is an unelectable loser? Apart from what you’ve read in your daily newspaper, how much do you really know about him?

Corbyn is a phenomenally hard working MP who passionately fights to protect the poor and vulnerable, seeks to protect the NHS, wants to nationalise natural monopolies and take back publicly financed utilities that were sold off to investors at a pittance, aims to stem the flow of capital from the poor to the rich, and campaigns tirelessly to seek diplomacy over war. Perhaps most threatening of all to the overseas billionaires is that Corbyn wants to stop corporate tax breaks, close down overseas tax avoidance, and stamp out wage inequality. This makes him hugely unpopular with the wealthy elite.

OK, maybe you do know a bit about Corbyn, but still dismiss his credentials out of hand. Sadly, it may be too late for you. The handful of right-wing media moguls running the bulk of the UK press have planted a seed, the roots of which have now grown deep within your subconscious, telling you that Corbyn is ridiculous, just like Kinnock was.

Of course Corbyn isn’t perfect, he does have a controversial past relating to some issues, but our national newspapers are full of stories ridiculing Corbyn, smearing him, or even worse, not featuring him at all.

He has as much right as anybody else to put his case forward, so why does he get such bad press? Because he represents the biggest threat to the right wing ideology and stability of the super rich – the same people who own our national media.

You may not agree with all or any of Corbyn’s policies, but it should trouble you that newspapers exercise power and influence in a number of ways. It is not just that they have a giant megaphone letting them dominate the public debate/thought. They have privileged access to politicians (just check out Rupert Murdoch’s recent wedding guest list) and have the ability to effectively set the political agenda.

However, none of the newspapers have privileged access to Jeremy Corbyn. Love him or loathe him, he’s the modern equivalent to the un-bribable Chicago cops who took down Al Capone. An untouchable politician. But, what use is a left leaning politician to a right-wing media mogul billionaire if he won’t even get into bed with him?

A perfect example of how the right-wing press paints a dire picture of Corbyn was reflected when the Labour leader turned down tickets to the opening game of the Rugby World Cup in 2015. The press slaughtered him. As did a number of high profile MPs.

The press claimed he had ‘snubbed’ the invite to the opening ceremony. Boris Jonhson was quoted saying “This is turning into a national joke…Come on Jezza: Scrum down for England.”

What wasn’t widely reported was that Corbyn had prior commitments, ‘scrumming down’ to meet with his constituents, the people he was elected to represent and serve.

He sat down for a private meeting with one of his homeless constituents to listen to her issues, as well as a full to the brim waiting room of others who had turned up to his weekly constituency meeting.

Whilst other politicians were quaffing down the free hospitality in the premier VIP seats, Corbyn was doing what the public elected him, and pay him to do.

http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/tle-pi ... hed/18/08/

[mistermack]

I don't read any right wing press, or believe the shit they peddle.

I'll still vote to keep Corbyn out. He's nothing but a poodle of the unions, and I've lived through the period when they ran the place. Also, he's a pacifist, and the Argies would simply arrive at the Falklands en-masse, knowing full well that he wouldn't give the order to resist.

And he would scrap most of our effective means of national defence.
And he's a cunt.

[pErvinalia]

I don't read any right wing press, or believe the shit they peddle.

I'll still vote to keep Corbyn out. He's nothing but a poodle of the unions, and I've lived through the period when they ran the place.

Unions gave us all the worker protections we now take for granted.

Also, he's a pacifist, and the Argies would simply arrive at the Falklands en-masse, knowing full well that he wouldn't give the order to resist.

Who gives a fuck about the Falklands?

And he would scrap most of our effective means of national defence.

Most?

The pacifist thing is a bit naive, but youve got bigger problems than some imaginary invasion.