Let's Get Political!

[Ardiles]

Great post.

[RobertT]

I'd love some form of PR to be in place, but I am not sure there are enough adults to play it properly.  We couldn't even cope with a Con/Lib combo without ruining the smaller party for years to come.

[pauld]

The problem I see is that Momentum still hold the reins of power within Labour, and so I can't see the party moving back to centre ground any time soon, even if Labour were to take an absolute hammering on Thursday. (which they won't imho), starting a new party - at least one that survives beyond the initial swell of public support - is very difficult indeed.

I do despair of the quality of politicians we have these days. Very few of any intellect or with the courage to stand up for what is right. All the parties are crap at the moment. They all lie, they all twist, and they all get outraged when one of the others pulls off a stunt of some kind, only then to repeat their own variation of that stunt themselves shortly after. Not one of them is truly worthy of our votes. I'll certainly be holding my nose on Thursday when I cast my ballot. - and vote I will, because to not vote and then complain about what happens next would be utterly hypocritical.

So my choices are mendacity vs (mendacity + economic oblivion) vs (mendacity + desperation) vs (mendacity + delusional.) In Scotland I'd have an extra choice of (Mendacity + more mendacity + incompetence + bigotry.)

It has been said that we get the politicians we deserve, and I fear that that statement has never been truer than it is today. We are never going to improve our politics until we can attract decent people, from all walks of life, of all political viewpoints to offer themselves up for election. And then we have to be willing to vote for them, even if they don't indulge in the bribery and soundbite fest that characterises election campaigning today.
We have to listen to what people actually say on complex issues, rather than insisting that everything be encapsulated in a short soundbite - soundbites that are all too frequently wilfully misinterpreted by the other side.

We also have to call out the dirty tricks and lies when we see them on ALL sides.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly of all, we need to call out the media, both print, social and broadcast to do its job better.
The media plays a central role in the decline of modern politics imho. What was once a source of information , largely reliable in the eyes of many, is now dumbed down beyond all recognition, fundamentally biased and unable to see anything beyond their own opinions. 21st century media is too keen to speculate and make up the story itself rather than investigate properly and report the facts.

The media has become toxic and corrosive to our democracy and it needs to shape up. Frankly we need to clone Andrew Neil and put him everywhere, in the face of every politician, but in the absence of that, it's surely not too much to ask for a more serious, professional approach, and less silly grandstanding and 'have you stopped beating your wife yet' style questions.

I suspect we'll be holding our noses in different directions but I 100% agree with everything you've said here (apart from Andrew Neil, has his own vested interests too, but someone like him as an interrogator). Without an honest objective media to hold politicians to account, democracy is lost. Great post, as Ardiles said

[BambooToTheFuture]

Johnson fucking bumbling his way through something, something, JCB at this very minute. All of the JCB staff behind him frankly look embarrassed to be sat there.

[REDBUCK]

Lastly and perhaps most importantly of all, we need to call out the media, both print, social and broadcast to do its job better.
The media plays a central role in the decline of modern politics imho. What was once a source of information , largely reliable in the eyes of many, is now dumbed down beyond all recognition, fundamentally biased and unable to see anything beyond their own opinions. 21st century media is too keen to speculate and make up the story itself rather than investigate properly and report the facts.

The media has become toxic and corrosive to our democracy and it needs to shape up. Frankly we need to clone Andrew Neil and put him everywhere, in the face of every politician, but in the absence of that, it's surely not too much to ask for a more serious, professional approach, and less silly grandstanding and 'have you stopped beating your wife yet' style questions.

Have we got any young people coming through with these qualities and with the desire to become an old fashioned Journalist what with the easy by which Social Media allows people to make an impression.

[pauld]

Have we got any young people coming through with these qualities and with the desire to become an old fashioned Journalist what with the easy by which Social Media allows people to make an impression.

Well, there's the ITV journalist who's phone Johnson nicked so he wouldn't have to look at and respond to the photo of a 4 year old child lying on coats on a hospital floor, for one. He's done more to hold politicians to account than the rest of the BBC and ITV combined

[Mister Lorenzo]

As if to prove the point of my previous post about how when one thing is leaked by one side, another is leaked by the other....

Mind you the Ashworth telephone call is quite sinister really. First we have Labour in possession of leaked government documents which may have passed through the hands of the Russians, and now we find the shadow health secretary appears to have Darth Vader on speed dial.

[Flashheart]

Well within the realms of a hung parliament.

It could also go the other way, of course, but what with tactical voting and a surge in young voters, it's more likely to swing labour's way.

[Flashheart]

I know I'm jumping the gun, and I'm not making assumptions, but when's the last time the party that won the most seats was unable to form a government? 

[horlock07]

Well, there's the ITV journalist who's phone Johnson nicked so he wouldn't have to look at and respond to the photo of a 4 year old child lying on coats on a hospital floor, for one. He's done more to hold politicians to account than the rest of the BBC and ITV combined

There is also the lad from C4 news who went after Gove.

[horlock07]

So this morning an aide told an ITV Reporter to F off live on air and then Johnson hid in a Fridge...

https://twitter.com/james_carroll/status/1204699956172468224

He's a wannabe Pat Mustard!

[horlock07]

 Is there anything they won't lie about?

[pauld]

So this morning an aide told an ITV Reporter to F off live on air and then Johnson hid in a Fridge...

https://twitter.com/james_carroll/status/1204699956172468224

He's a wannabe Pat Mustard!

It's one thing to bottle out of being interviewed by Andrew Neil, but now he won't even face up to morning sofa telly, including his actual mate Piers Morgan? Massive bottler.

[horlock07]

It's one thing to bottle out of being interviewed by Andrew Neil, but now he won't even face up to morning sofa telly, including his actual mate Piers Morgan? Massive bottler.

I understand he had relented and is doing one on BBC this afternoon with Mr Tumble?

[Ardiles]

If the polls were closer, he'd be doing these interviews.  But he knows that he's over the line.  A majority of even 10 will be just fine.  He's happy to be called a bottler because, once he gets a majority, it will be forgotten within days.