General UK politics VII -Return of the Starmer

[Carrot Flower King]

Problem is the BBC is so supine these days they are likely to give in, look what happened to Mock the Week.

Frankie Boyle's New World Order...Mash Report...

I'm just surprised the News Quiz is allowed on in this pre-election period and that Dead Ringers was on just before.

Mind, with News Quiz when Geoff Norcott is coming off like he's Nish Kumar or Frankie Boyle you know some things have shifted.

 

[Garrison]

What happened to mock the week?

Well everyone involved was pretty clear its cancellation was because it annoyed the Tories.

 

[Mojo]

[Never mind, misread post.]

 

[Carrot Flower King]

The trouble is that Nigel just doesn't understand our culture. We have a long tradition of taking the piss out of fascist twerps.

Has Nige been spotted wearing his black shorts?

 

[P.J. Denyer]

What happened to mock the week?

Pretty much the same as the Mash Report iirc.

 

[Wudang]

That empty Starbucks cup thrown towards Farage as he paraded the streets on the open top deck of a bus has somehow changed in to a brick.

Wishful thinking?

 

[Andy_Ross]

Well everyone involved was pretty clear its cancellation was because it annoyed the Tories.

Bollocks it was because it was crap and the audience wasn't there anymore.


It was good for a while, maybe the first few of series but it got stale.

 

[Mojo]

John Crace yesterday:

Round and round in circles. The wheels coming off. Skid marks everywhere. Crashing out at the first corner. Getting lapped. Stalled at the start. The pits. Burning up fossil fuels. Mired in sex scandals. You can write your own jokes here.

Someone in Conservative headquarters must really have it in for Rishi Sunak. Either that or Isaac Levido and James Forsyth are secret Labour stooges. Why else would the Tories have chosen Silverstone as the venue for their manifesto launch?

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...hi-sunak-bargain-basement-manifesto-vote-tory

Just in case anyone was wondering why Rish! chose Silverstone for the manifesto launch, perhaps it has something to do with this.

 

[Mojo]

From later in that John Crace column:

Over in the media pen, a waiter was explaining why the coffee wasn’t really coffee. It was just hot water in a jug marked coffee. Piss ups and breweries came to mind.

 

[Pixel42]

The ITV interview he was doing when he should have been at the D-Day event looks to be hilarious. Asked what he'd ever had to sacrifice, he could apparently only come up with doing without Sky TV when he was a child. I've already seen a "Please sir, I want some more channels" photoshopped still from Oliver!

 

[catsmate]

The trouble is that Nigel just doesn't understand our culture. We have a long tradition of taking the piss out of fascist twerps.

At birth, every citizen, as of right, will be issued with a British bicycle and an honest British-made umbrella. Thus assured of a mobile workforce adequately protected against the elements, this great country can go forward once more to glory!

 

[Mojo]

The ITV interview he was doing when he should have been at the D-Day event looks to be hilarious. Asked what he'd ever had to sacrifice, he could apparently only come up with doing without Sky TV when he was a child. I've already seen a "Please sir, I want some more channels" photoshopped still from Oliver!

BBC Breakfast had a clip of that bit of the interview this morning.

 

[jimbob]

The ITV interview he was doing when he should have been at the D-Day event looks to be hilarious. Asked what he'd ever had to sacrifice, he could apparently only come up with doing without Sky TV when he was a child. I've already seen a "Please sir, I want some more channels" photoshopped still from Oliver!

Ah, "Happy Toast"'s work

 

[P.J. Denyer]

At birth, every citizen, as of right, will be issued with a British bicycle and an honest British-made umbrella. Thus assured of a mobile workforce adequately protected against the elements, this great country can go forward once more to glory!

The lack of his god-given umbrella! Who says Sunak hasn't suffered?

 

[jeremyp]

What would expect him to have done? Implement policies while not in power? That's tricky? Compete in a general election? Tricky to do that until one was actually called by the party in power.

No. I would have expected him to fulfil the duties of an effective opposition leader and they are to hold the government of the day to task over any bad decisions they make. There was plenty of material with both the May and Johnson governments for an effective opposition leader to use.

Not really sure that's too relevant. Blair won with the fulsome support of that well know left wing rag, The Sun.

Well, well: a Labour politician managing to handle the right wing press. Doesn't this kind of undermine the point?

I struggle to see the lack of support for Corbyn and his policies when he achieved 40% of the popular vote in 2017 in spite of the many and varied forces working against him.

I'm also still wondering what his 'loony left' policies that caused him to be soundly rejected at the ballot box.

I'm not saying it was his policies that were the problem: I'm saying it was his abilities, or rather lack of them that were the issue. He was perceived as being "loony left" but the manifesto in 2017 wasn't really all that far left. Why could he not communicate that? Because he's ******* useless.

 

[jeremyp]

But it is important in refuting the 'everyone thinks Corbyn was unelectable concept that's so prevalent around here for some reason.

The reason it is prevalent is that Corbyn failed to get elected twice, in each case when he was up against one of the worst UK governments of all time. That's what unelectable means: can't get elected.

 

[Andy_Ross]

At birth, every citizen, as of right, will be issued with a British bicycle and an honest British-made umbrella. Thus assured of a mobile workforce adequately protected against the elements, this great country can go forward once more to glory!

I always think of Spode when I see Farage ranting.

Black Shorts next.

LIke SPode I expect him to abandon it all as soon as something better comes along (Spode turned his back on the Blackshorts when he inherited the title)

 

[3point14]

Well, well: a Labour politician managing to handle the right wing press. Doesn't this kind of undermine the point?

No.

[I'm not saying it was his policies that were the problem: I'm saying it was his abilities, or rather lack of them that were the issue. He was perceived as being "loony left" but the manifesto in 2017 wasn't really all that far left. Why could he not communicate that? Because he's ******* useless.

Because his communication, and, importantly, the analysis of same, is being communicated to the public by a right wing press with a vested interest in not having him PM. I thought I'd made that clear.

 

[3point14]

The reason it is prevalent is that Corbyn failed to get elected twice, in each case when he was up against one of the worst UK governments of all time. That's what unelectable means: can't get elected.

But he was nearly elected despite the undeserved kicking he got in the - and I'm going to say it again - right wing press, owned by billionaires with a vested interest in him not being elected. Oh, and internal sabotage by his own party.

Imagine how many votes he'd have garnered with the fulsome support of his party and a proper fourth estate.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

No. I would have expected him to fulfil the duties of an effective opposition leader and they are to hold the government of the day to task over any bad decisions they make. There was plenty of material with both the May and Johnson governments for an effective opposition leader to use.



Well, well: a Labour politician managing to handle the right wing press. Doesn't this kind of undermine the point?

I'm not saying it was his policies that were the problem: I'm saying it was his abilities, or rather lack of them that were the issue. He was perceived as being "loony left" but the manifesto in 2017 wasn't really all that far left. Why could he not communicate that? Because he's ******* useless.

I'm not sure Blair's relationship with the press should be the norm, for either side (for example one of the News Corp political editors, she was Sun on Sunday but may now be the daily paper, is shacked up with Richard Holden Tory Party Chairman). But Corbyn outright refused to do any media training at all according to Owen Jones. Politicians should not pander to the press, or billionaire press barons, but journalists are one of the key ways politicians communicate with the public, if you leave a vacuum it will be filled and it's unlikely to be filled by your friends.