Ivan Horrocks, who has been a long term commentator and occasional guest contributor on this blog, has an article under the above title on Progressive Pulse. I recommend it. I think his analysis - that May called an election because she expects to fail on Brexit - is right. The post can be found here.
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I have wondered if the intention was to pass the buck to Labour and then pin the blame for all the consequences on a hapless but well intentioned and vastly weakened party.
Mr Horrocks analysis gave me pause for thought.
I preferred the analysis on the ‘Conversation’ three weeks ago that the real purpose of calling the GE was the raft of bad economic indicators coming down the river. I can’t recall who wrote it.
I had thought it might have been the threat of criminal prosecutions and the possibility of by-elections in 30-odd constituencies as a result of the 2015 GE expenses enquiry, threatening her smallish Commons majority, that was the main reason for May calling this year’s election.
It’s now clear, however, that no action will be taken by the CPS.
But I still wonder whether May genuinely believed prosecutions were a possibility… and may now be rather regretting all the fuss she’s brought about?
I am staggered by the outcome
I remember looking at clips of battlebuses on youtube and the differences were stark. Labour and LibDem ones were full of journalists and assorted party functionaries, the latter generally supporting some big names (Prescott, Clegg etc.) This Tory battlebus was completely different. Tories do not have enough doorstep campaigners and so need to bus them into local seats to flood these areas to generate a sense of enthusiasm and momentum. Just like the wraparounds of local papers on the day of the local elections, this is all meant to bend the meaning of what is normally understood as the difference between traditional local and national campaigning.
So if the CPS think a few letters from central office is enough to clear up this fiasco then that is their lookout but the law should be the last thing to be corrupted. Overall this sorry tale is another nail in the coffin of our old ideas about democracy. I hope others like me are not overreacting to some ‘strange’ news but this feels very symbolic…some kind of watershed moment. People – The People – really need to think long and hard on whether the wider state of affairs in the UK is supportable.
I don’t think it is.
Spot on. It has some echoes to the pre-referendum excuses-in-early propaganda. It went ‘can Labour get the Remain vote out?’ What? But it worked & everybody piled in on Corbyn, including many who should have known better.
Stalin’s unshakable view was what was good for Stalin was good for the country. Orange Donald has a similar outlook. Now May is saying it’s your patriotic duty to vote for her because everyone who disagrees is a wrecker. So if you don’t vote for her & Brexit turns chatic, it’s the fault of everyone but her.
Whatever spin is being spun about May and all her power-dressing and fashion poses there is only one future for the UK: Increased private debt and secular stagnation, no other outcome is possible given the present dynamics. A collapse on the personal contract purchases SUV’s you see all over the place is on the horizon and with 12 billion cuts per year to welfare even more money is being taken out of circulation combined with a current account deficit.
Ok, so the vacuous May is relying on the fact that she’s got a decent figure at 65 and does the power-dress stuff well, but the underlying factors cannot be hidden forever. For the moment the public (45% of them?) are enjoying a good flag-wave and the celebrity construction of the vapid Maybot but this delusional garbage simply cannot carry on forever and the Government will have to increase deficits and pretend that the surplus has been postponed yet again just to avoid disaster.
it’s like living in a zombie movie: ‘Dawn of the Living Dead part 356.’
I believe it’s now got to the stage when one simply should not trust the objectivity of any mainstream media. Back in the halcyon days, news and opinion were separate and clearly identified as such. For some time now the two have morphed leaving the reader / viewer confused and misinformed in the process. Actually, the general public probably don’t even care because all it wants is to be entertained. Regrettably, as has been often mentioned, it’s not until a major crisis occurs with a tangible negative effect on the lives of ‘middle England’ do it awaken from its sleep walking.
I fear we have to come to terms with the fact that rationality and demonstrable facts (i.e. the truth) no longer play a role in the political process. We have already entered a new Dark Age, necessitating a complete rethink as to how to combat the ever more powerful merchants of deception and exploitation. We are becoming the puppets of algorithms (http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/07/20/algorithms-accountability-and-political-emotion). A bit of a non-sequitur, but PR voting would be a modest step towards levelling the playing field. Maybe now that it’s on the back-foot, the LP will push for it. Hope springs eternal.
It has to
And the focus must eventually be on the under 35s
John
thanks for the link. Big Data, Cambridge Analytica etc are very worrying. I would welcome a guest publication on Progressive Pulse
Simon, you only need to watch John Harris on his tour around the UK – “ordinary” people really are either a) that stupid b) sufficiently delusional to believe the stuff that May comes out with. One chap was going to vote Tory despite the fact that Tory cuts have eliminated buses in his area – he has a hi-viz jacket with “gizz a lift” on it. I have zero synmpathy for such people – they deserve what is coming down the track – they own it 100%. Morons.
We must be prescient! http://leftfootforward.org/2017/05/senior-labour-figures-and-tory-mp-demand-corbyn-and-may-back-pr/