The 2017 General Election campaign

[killer b]

where's that from?

 

[mikey mikey]

Eoin Clarke (@LabourEoin) on Twitter

 

[killer b]

Does he say where he got it from? He's not the most reliable of sources.

 

[killer b]

(I can't actually see Eoin Clarke's tweets to check myself because, like half of twitter, he's blocked me)

 

[bi0boy]

Smear, insinuate and lie. You'd make a good Tory.

I was being serious. I doubt Labour are though.

 

[mikey mikey]

Does he say where he got it from? He's not the most reliable of sources.

Do you have an example of Eoin Clarke's alleged "unreliability"?

In fact, rather than just insinuate that this is inaccurate, why not go to the Labour Manifesto and find evidence to debunk it?

 

[chilango]

Yup. Unless it's some sorry-arsed compromise they end up offering. The last time I voted Labour in a general election was 1983, so this isn't something I say lightly. Even though I'm only talking about potentially considering it.

(And there are other considerations to balance too: the history of Labour in Scotland. They have a lot to do to overcome my distaste for them. But it does help that the SNP might not use their manifesto to give a clear independence referendum mandate. If they don't, then I'll feel no need to vote for them).

I've never voted Labour. And my posts recently should should make it abundantly clear why I haven't, and why I won't.

...but if I find myself defending Labour policies in conversation then we're on new ground.

Edit to add: tbh I doubt once the early morning headlines are out the of the way this actually going to be an issue for me, and I suspect by lunchtime normal service will resume

 

[mikey mikey]

I was being serious.

Your extreme far-left proposal seems oddly out of character. Are you sure you weren't just being facetious?

 

[chilango]

I've never voted Labour. And my posts recently should should make it abundantly clear why I haven't, and why I won't.

...but if I find myself defending Labour policies in conversation then we're on new ground.

Edit to add: tbh I doubt once the early morning headlines are out the of the way this actually going to be an issue for me, and I suspect by lunchtime normal service will resume

...though I might take the drastic, and unprecedented, action of claiming a Labour vote in the next opinion poll I complete.

Seems a fair compromise, no?

 

[killer b]

In fact, rather than just insinuate that this is inaccurate, why not go to the Labour Manifesto and find evidence to debunk it?

because it hasn't been released yet.

 

[brogdale]

because it hasn't been released yet.

I think we may have discovered pre-factual politics!

 

[chilango]

I think we may have discovered pre-factual politics!

Pre-truth.

 

[bimble]

Telegraph & Dm both running with same headline about 'taking Britain Back to the 70s'. Maybe because they don't want people to read the content they've gone for the strong visual alarm signals.

 

[mikey mikey]

because it hasn't been released yet.

It was my understanding that it had been leaked
Labour's entire draft election manifesto has just leaked

 

[Pickman's model]

It was my understanding that it had been leaked
Labour's entire draft election manifesto has just leaked

Yeh. But your understanding notoriously feeble

 

[killer b]

I have read some articles about It, but have yet to find anything about a 20% tax on private school tuition or a 20% tax on private health insurance, for example. Both of which are more likely to have appeared from eoin Clarke's fevered imagination than the Labour party manifesto imo.

 

[mikey mikey]

Go ahead and cast aspersions on Eoin Clarke while he's trying to support Labour as they attempt to get May out of No. 10. After all, what better use of your time, eh?

Who's next? Tom Pride?

 

[killer b]

Seriously though - if those were real, the telegraph would be leading with them. They aren't. It's weirdo eoin's back of a fag packet wishlist.

 

[Pickman's model]

Go ahead and cast aspersions on Eoin Clarke while he's trying to support Labour as they attempt to get May out of No. 10. After all, what better use of your time, eh?

The best thing you could do for labour is start supporting the tories.

 

[bi0boy]

Your extreme far-left proposal seems oddly out of character. Are you sure you weren't just being facetious?

You don't seem to be a good judge of character.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Telegraph & Dm both running with same headline about 'taking Britain Back to the 70s'. Maybe because they don't want people to read the content they've gone for the strong visual alarm signals.

View attachment 106444View attachment 106445

But I want to go back to the 70s.

 

[killer b]

Go ahead and cast aspersions on Eoin Clarke while he's trying to support Labour as they attempt to get May out of No. 10. After all, what better use of your time, eh?

Who's next? Tom Pride?

I think obvious, provable bullshitters harm the causes they claim to support.

Tell you what though: I'll give a fiver to the Labour party election fund for each of those 20% taxes he's made up if they turn out to be true. Prove him right and that's a tenner towards getting may out.

 

[mikey mikey]

I think obvious, provable bullshitters harm the causes they claim to support.

Off you go and debunk his claims, then.

 

[killer b]

I've spent 20 minutes this morning looking for any trace of these two 20% taxes, nothing so far. Can you help me out?

 

[mikey mikey]

Nah. My internet time, futile that it is, is spent looking for and passing on stuff that will hurt the Tories.

 

[Rimbaud]

"Labour's elections chair has called the leak of their manifesto "not ideal" but says on the plus side people are now talking about the party's vision."

Hmm. I wonder if this leak isn't some smart move to play the media - the policies are kind of difficult to put in a bad light, and Labour know that they are popular policies, but having them "leaked" rather than formally released is more likely to get them in the headlines.

 

[killer b]

Nah. My internet time, futile that it is, is spent looking for and passing on stuff that will hurt the Tories.

That's an easy £10 to the fighting fund you're turning down. Surely that would hurt the tories more than posting spittle-flecked wibble on internet forums?

I'll double it: £20 to the Labour party if you can find any evidence of those two taxes in the next half hour.

 

[butchersapron]

Nah. My internet time, futile that it is, is spent looking for and passing on stuff that will hurt the Tories.

Do you have some sort of method of evaluating the reliability of sources?

 

[mikey mikey]

Not really. I check in with Labour First to find out if it's "on message" and if it isn't I just rubbish the source rather than debunk it with evidence.

The best bit about this tactic, is that I demand that the source, which I had previously not been familiar with but I accuse of being unreliable, must be shown to be reliable by proving that he or she is not lying.

 

[killer b]

Still found nothing about those 20% taxes. I think a complete absence of evidence in support counts as evidence against doesn't it?