Dead Mike

Blythe has gone Tory. The short of it is that Thatcher won in the end, the communities her policies destroyed ended up embracing her legacy. All it took was embracing racism & the feeling of a Labour party abandoning them. They'll end up getting screwed, we know this & deep down the voters there probably know it too but they were left feeling like there was no alternative which is the truly tragic part of all this.

Not gonna lie, I feel pretty sick even though deep down this was the result I was expecting albeit maybe not this much of a landslide. There's always the comforting retreat of our social media echo chambers though where we can collectively claim everyone else is thick & our choices definitely weren't the problem. Doubt it. People want to stick 2 fingers up to Johnny Foreigner & tell the EU to fuck off. Plus even if Labour went full on 'hard Brexit' the public would still pick the Tory version over Labour's simply because Johnson is more popular than Corbyn.

Has there ever been a more instant & infallible barometer of cuntiness than posting shit about Dianne Abbott on social media?

Yeah, remember all the riots when thousands of terminally ill people died just a fortnight after being found 'fit for work'? The public uproar from dying Brits being forced to spend their last days in interviews with ATOS? Nope, because most Brits don't give a fuck. https://www.theweek.co.uk/64973/thousands-of-people-have-died-after-being-found-fit-for-work

Saw this & thought of you (all)

Gary Rhodes on every front page

He's already apologies in the past though? I agree it was lose/lose purely based on how it would be reported. IMO it's better to apologise again rather than skirt around it. It'll be telling if Johnson apologises for his 'watermelon smiles' & 'bumboy' comments. I could actually see that happening so it can be spun as Johnson having the moral high-ground over Corbyn (something I never thought was plausible!). Corbyn has just handed out un-redacted documents regarding UK/US trade discussions which prove that Johnson has been lying all along & the NHS is 100% on the table in future trade deals. Now is the time when we see how much people actually give a shit. Since Brexit we've seen a shift in politics where opposition claims can be dismissed as lies at the time but then referred to as truth at a later date. The fact that the public 'knew' but still voted against = a mandate. 'People were told Brexit would make them poorer but still voted for it so this is what you're getting'.

To get Murdoch's backing? Not going to happen again unless the public get REALLY pissed off with the Tories (like they did with Major) & the Murdoch press were pretty much forced to back Labour. In 1997 the likes of The Sun still backing the Conservatives would've put them at odds with their readership. This is the reason the Scottish Sun & the UK version have differing takes on the same topics. As I've said before, I'm not 100% sure they do. The 2017 manifesto polled well with the public until they learned the policies were Corbyn's. Ex soldier, single father who lost his wife to cancer & Northern. Much harder for the tabloids to slander.

My ideal pick would be Dan Jarvis but I don't know if he even wants the job. Failing that, Keir Starmer or Jess Philips.

No. Is putting someone who the public think is shit on TV going to get you more votes or less? Nobody's claimed Labour should run on a campaign of demonising Muslims though have they? However, once in power they could build affordable housing. The key is getting into power. The thing is, people don't like Johnson. He's got negative approval ratings. People fucking despise Corbyn though & yes, it's largely due to the campaign against him. Just because it's not fair doesn't stop it from being reality though so you've got 2 options. Change the leader to someone less toxic & hope the inevitable propaganda against them has less impact, or make no changes, lose another election then moan about the media some more. At some point idealism has to meet reality.

I'm more than aware of the abuse Diane Abbot gets & it's disgusting. It doesn't change the fact that people hate her & putting her on TV is detrimental to Labours elections hopes. With regards to your last point, 'less shit' might not be ideal but it's achievable. Would you rather have 50% of the current Labour manifesto or 5yrs of unrestricted Tory policies? Claiming you want 100% of Corbyn's Labour is fine but it's not going to happen, the public don't want it. Say what you like about the Tories, at least they realise to get the changes you want you actually have to be in power first.

The frustrating thing is that this isn't new news. Everyone's known since Labour lost the last election that the public found them appalling & what changes have been made? Head in the sand, echo chamber bollocks. Every time I see a social media post with someone asking 'How are the Tories still ahead in the polls?' it simply demonstrates how detached from the public mood they are.

You're underestimating how toxic the Labour front bench are to the majority of people. Maybe not your friends & family but most people don't agree with you, as demonstrated by the polls* *yeah but who believes them anyway etc etc etc