General Election Pre-Thread (1 of 6)

[mjmooney]

1 minute ago, markavfc40 said:

Will the Tories have all the usual rags behind them DM, Sun, Express, Torygraph etc or will one or two of them not want to be seen to back nailed on losers. If it was close they may believe they still have enough influence to swing it, but it isn't. 

Probably true. Also, Labour are so bland, it's going to be pretty difficult to play the 'loony left' card this time. 

[Leeroy]

9 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

Will the Tories have all the usual rags behind them DM, Sun, Express, Torygraph etc or will one or two of them not want to be seen to back nailed on losers. If it was close they may believe they still have enough influence to swing it, but it isn't. 

The Sun usually tries to claim the credit for the election winner because of its supposed influence (It’s the Sun Wot Won It) but they won’t have any influence on this one I suspect as much as they will try to wreck Labour’s campaign. Will probably just back Labour at the last minute.

[The Fun Factory]

The Sun and Times usually switch when it looks utterly hopeless for the tories. They might not necessarily back Labour but I can't see them giving Sunak a ringing endorsement.  Mail, Express and Telegraph are true blue. Though nowadays not sure how important a paper backing a political party is given the circulation figures. A social influencer is probably more important now.

[Jareth]

Starmer has happily given exclusive interviews to all the right wing rags, I imagine the deal is already done for them to play a more balanced game in the expectation of a Labour win.

[The Fun Factory]

37 minutes ago, ml1dch said:

It's the febrility of their spread of votes that does it - with a few exceptions, most of their seats have pretty small majorities with the vote broadly splitting along pro / anti independence lines. Which as we know, is narrowly in favour of anti at the moment. The thing that then pushes the SNP over the edge is that if they are seen as the most viable anti-Tory vote (as has been the case since 2015), that's enough for SNP to take the seat from Labour. If that switches, and Labour are seen as the more likely option to keep the Tory out, the seat flips. 

They win big and lose big. 

It will just go back to what it was pre 2015 and the referendum. Labour had rock solid support in the central belt until Milliband, it even held up in 2010 under Brown. I think the social progressives are leaving the SNP as since Sturgeon they seem to be going back to being Tories in Tartan.

[tomav84]

19 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

The Sun and Times usually switch when it looks utterly hopeless for the tories. They might not necessarily back Labour but I can't see them giving Sunak a ringing endorsement.  Mail, Express and Telegraph are true blue. Though nowadays not sure how important a paper backing a political party is given the circulation figures. A social influencer is probably more important now.

i definitely remember the sun backing labour once upon a time. as you say, they just jumped on the bandwagon. horrid little rag.

[The Fun Factory]

4 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

i definitely remember the sun backing labour once upon a time. as you say, they just jumped on the bandwagon. horrid little rag.

Still the best-selling newspaper in the country.  Which may show who still actually buys and reads newspapers nowadays.

[Demitri_C]

25 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

The Sun and Times usually switch when it looks utterly hopeless for the tories. They might not necessarily back Labour but I can't see them giving Sunak a ringing endorsement.  Mail, Express and Telegraph are true blue. Though nowadays not sure how important a paper backing a political party is given the circulation figures. A social influencer is probably more important now.

This.

The sun will try take credit for helping labour win.

I remember years ago a labour mp ripped up a sun news paper and the sun was going nits about it. Massive respect to that man

[bickster]

1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said:

Mail, Express and Telegraph are true blue.

Very light blue recently not true blue. That isn't a positive thing for the Tories

[The Fun Factory]

The most important issue is who will the  Daily Star endorse?

[Anthony]

1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said:

The Sun and Times usually switch when it looks utterly hopeless for the tories. They might not necessarily back Labour but I can't see them giving Sunak a ringing endorsement.  Mail, Express and Telegraph are true blue. Though nowadays not sure how important a paper backing a political party is given the circulation figures. A social influencer is probably more important now.

Ironically, despite the print media's huge loss of circulation over the last decade and more, they still have stranglehold on opinion shaping in our broadcast media. The BBC still has a regular "What the Papers Say" segment, and defer to their judgement on what the nation thinks is important. As time goes on I see the print media becoming more like propaganda think tanks (e.g Tax payers Alliance), with the public facing bit their 'justification' for 'understanding' the pulse of the nation.

[Seat68]

2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Remember "Did you stay up for Portillo?"? 

We're going to be spoilt for choice this time. 

Gullis and Ben Bradley if they stand. 

[CarryOnVilla]

27 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Ironically, despite the print media's huge loss of circulation over the last decade and more, they still have stranglehold on opinion shaping in our broadcast media. The BBC still has a regular "What the Papers Say" segment, and defer to their judgement on what the nation thinks is important. As time goes on I see the print media becoming more like propaganda think tanks (e.g Tax payers Alliance), with the public facing bit their 'justification' for 'understanding' the pulse of the nation.

You’d be surprised how much the media, think tanks and politics bleed into each other. People switching around all 3 professions with great ease 

[Anthony]

6 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

You’d be surprised how much the media, think tanks and politics bleed into each other. People switching around all 3 professions with great ease 

Oh yeah! It's something I follow quite closely as I see how corrupting it is. I have friends and acquaintances in and around it trying to make it better. It's an uphill task.

[ml1dch]

32 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

Gullis and Ben Bradley if they stand. 

Neither would really be Portillo moment. It was a "moment" because nobody expected Twigg to beat him. Both Gullis and Bradley would expect to be smashed by their Labour opponent.

I reckon what would count as a Portillo moment would be the likes of Rees-Mogg, Braverman, Hunt or even Sunak himself. 

[The Fun Factory]

29 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

You’d be surprised how much the media, think tanks and politics bleed into each other. People switching around all 3 professions with great ease 

Doesn't help how utterly London centric the country is.

[mjmooney]

23 minutes ago, ml1dch said:

I reckon what would count as a Portillo moment would be the likes of Rees-Mogg, Braverman, Hunt or even Sunak himself. 

Deffo. Big game. 

I think I'll be staying up late with the popcorn for this one. 

Edited May 23 by mjmooney

[The Fun Factory]

What are the odds of the Lib Dems being the main party of opposition after the election?

[ml1dch]

6 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

What are the odds of the Lib Dems being the main party of opposition after the election?

8/1 at the moment

Edited May 23 by ml1dch

[bickster]

42 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

What are the odds of the Lib Dems being the main party of opposition after the election?

My prediction for that is the election after this one