Let's Get Political!

[REDBUCK]

Channel 4 replaces the absentees' Boris and Farage with ice sculptors where they would have been sitting.

Boris threatens to 'review' their licence.

Childish all round

[pauld]

Childish all round

Might be childish on Channel 4's part but "cowardly" would be a better word for Johnson, he knows he doesn't stand up to scrutiny. On any topic. And he has an uncomfortable history of flirting with climate change denial, and taking funding from denial lobby groups. And tbf, the ice sculpture will do pretty much what Johnson would have done anyway - melt under the lights.

Farage is an out and out climate change denier so precious little point him attending anyway, as he might have to confront some actual science and facts and stuff.

[sir windon]

Swindon audience came across quite well on ‘Question Time’. Were not going to be taken as fools.

[Batch]

we are, polls suggest a Tory victory here

[horlock07]

If you want to see the uphill battle being fought by anyone other than the Tories to get a fair hearing from the press, how about these two headlines from the Daily Express:

Labour plans for a £10 minimum wage:

Labour’s minimum wage plan could cost you YOUR job and send unemployment soaring
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1183556/labour-party-general-election-policy-jeremy-corbyn-prime-minister-minimum-wage
Daily Express, 28/09/2019

Tory plans for a £10.50 minimum wage:

Boris Johnson’s plan to raise wages across the country receives huge boost from expert
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1199992/boris-johnson-conservative-party-general-election-minimum-wage-raise-sajid-javid
Daily Express, 04/11/2019

Same policy, radically different coverage. It’s almost as if the billionaire owners of the press weren’t impartial about the party aiming to ensure they aren’t subject to tighter scrutiny of their tax affairs.

[horlock07]

Might be childish on Channel 4's part but "cowardly" would be a better word for Johnson, he knows he doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

I think its pretty clear that the Tories have realised that the faithful will vote whatever happens and thus they are just dodging any engagement unless entirely necessary, divisive figures like JRM have all but vanished and there is plenty of examples of them just not bothering to turn up to hustings or even actually campaigning in the constituencies, although for balance whilst Johnson has been conspicuous by his absence in Uxbridge, it has also been noted that similarly Corbyn has been barely seen in Islington. 

I see they are trying it on with the BBC dodging the Neil interview but suggesting that Johnson would be prepared to appear on the more gentle (non prime time) Marr show. The BBC should accept that and then Marr mysteriously fall ill on the morning and be replaced by Neil or Emily Maitlis as stand in presenter!

[Flashheart]

Boris just got torn apart on LBC by tory leaver Nick Ferrari.

[Ardiles]

When you listen to Ferrari, it's clear he's a Tory and clear that he's a Leaver.  But it's also clear that he shares the view of many on the Remain side that Johnson is a charlatan.  I'd be interested to hear what was said.

[RedRag]

I see they are trying it on with the BBC dodging the Neil interview but suggesting that Johnson would be prepared to appear on the more gentle (non prime time) Marr show. The BBC should accept that and then Marr mysteriously fall ill on the morning and be replaced by Neil or Emily Maitlis as stand in presenter!

Absolutely!

After all, the Conservatives expected Gove to turn up uninvited at the last minute and be allowed to gatecrash the Leaders' Climate debate

In the real world, the compliant BBC would be unwilling to risk the repercussions from its likely paymasters

[Flashheart]

If I were Marr, I'd be quite insulted that Johnson clearly sees him as a 'soft touch' in comparison to Neil, and be even more motivated to give him as hard a time as possible.

[Pax Romana]

It seems stupid of Boris to duck Neil.  Everyone gets a rough ride from him so you're not going to look that bad by comparison.  Plus few people actually watch the programme and even fewer change their vote on the back of it, they mainly use it to pick out the bits that reconfirm their current view.

By contrast, "Cowardly Boris won't face TV interviewer" is an easy concept for the casual voter to grasp.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Johnson's minders know that short of something clearly criminal, his reputation doesn't matter.

What does matter is the cohort of voters who still continue to buy the Brexit lies.  It's a form of Stockholm Syndrome.

[Tails]

Boris just got torn apart on LBC by tory leaver Nick Ferrari.

Although he quickly moved on after Johnson signalled him to do so. Check out the video if you can, Boris obviously forgot he was being filmed.

[Ardiles]

Read an interesting piece yesterday - I forget where - explaining that Johnson's tack is to make himself as small as possible during election campaigns, in stark contrast to his flamboyant, extrovert persona at other times.

To be honest, I think his calculation is that he's over the line already and that he can do what he likes.  Miss debates, mislead, avoid answering questions.  None of it matters.  He has enough 'Get Brexit Done' votes in the bag already.  He's stopped caring, and will probably spend the weekend watching Netflix or whatever and trying to forget that there's an election on at all.

[Flashheart]

There's a lot of people actually applauding him for not doing a debate with Neil --- BECAUSE they know that he would be given a hard time.

That's what we're up against. A large number of the electorate just don't care about what's true and what isn't. Many openly say so themselves.