please empty your brain below
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I'm afraid that's a pretty accurate assessment. I suppose it's always possible we'll get a surprise, but I think I've given up hoping.
RogerB | 07.12.19 - 7:36 a.m. | #
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Which lot does one choose from this parade of terribles.
Perhaps we should try and identify the 330 odd MPs we do trust to form a government of all the talents.
100andthirty | 07.12.19 - 7:45 a.m. | #
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Point 4 under Lib Dems applies even more so to Labour. The Lib Dems have stood down in a number of seats, Labour refused to do so.
Busfan | 07.12.19 - 8:12 a.m. | #
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DG, I thought you'd learned your lesson from Tuesday's article which is not to post about politics during a General Election campaign because you'll only encourage people with unusual views to comment but evidently not.
milliem | 07.12.19 - 8:34 a.m. | #
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The Tories are the safest of an iffy bunch.
Fred | 07.12.19 - 8:50 a.m. | #
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I agree with pretty much 90% of this. But the incumbent bunch of liars and chancers remain vastly preferable to any other option in my book, unattractive although the choices are.
Dominic H | 07.12.19 - 8:57 a.m. | #
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Commentators have been going on about the new politics, but if the Tories win and we leave then there will be no more leaking of UKIP/Brixit votes that have favoured hung parliaments in the past few elections.
Labour have successfully repeated the mistakes of the 80s by appointing a leader who puts ideology above practicality.
The 'loaded London lefties' need to get it into their heads that they need the votes of people they think are thick in order to win elections, so show them a bit of love instead of contempt.
Still Anon | 07.12.19 - 9:04 a.m. | #
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Oh why did you do this. Why can't I dream of a miracle for a few more days before facing the reality of the worst Friday the 13th ever.
Richard | 07.12.19 - 9:39 a.m. | #
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Anyone who things the Conservative party is hard right is deluding themselves. It it is a good sound bite, but it is just not true. Compared to other parties around the world and historical comparisons, the current Conservatives are generall left of centre, with some slightly rightish policies. They have captured the ground that Tony Blairs Labour party had in the 1990s. Many die-hard conservatives want them to move back towards their historical norm, but when the Labour party is so far to the left, the best battleground is the centre.
Jimbo | 07.12.19 - 9:43 a.m. | #
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I’d rather vote for a liar than a ...oh, hang on.
Oliver | 07.12.19 - 9:56 a.m. | #
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Point 8: Antisemitism is not a voting issue except to the miniscule Jewish population.
Mike | 07.12.19 - 10:17 a.m. | #
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Charisma on one side is bluffing, on the other side it's plain spoken people-first. Neither are what we're used to.
Sensible spending on the majority does seem to still be popular, but along with anti semitism and general not-Tory existence, it's the media telling people what to think.
toby | 07.12.19 - 11:17 a.m. | #
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8. Islamaphobia and anti-semitism are both wrong, but Islamaphobia is a reaction to terrorism - there used to be an anti-Irish sentiment when it was the IRA, but terrorism always seems to be Islamic these days, so is it surprising if there is some Islamaphobia? We don't get Jewish Terrorists in this country, do we? The anti-Semitism we see from the Labour party leadership is reminiscent of the NSDAP, and that worries a lot of people. The anti-Semitism of the Labour party also appears a lot more overt than the Islamaphobia seen from the Conservative party, but I don't expect most of the readers of this blog to agree with that.
Jimbo | 07.12.19 - 11:44 a.m. | #
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We do indeed find you disagreeable.
Readers Of This Blog | 07.12.19 - 11:49 a.m. | #
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The lesson here is that you can create a benefits system that torments, degrades and kills the people who need it most, even one that costs more to run than before, and people who consider themselves respectable won't be appalled.
Simultaneously, a significant number of moderate centrist types have been successfully convinced that having public services that don't suck is unaffordable and unrealistic.
Jimbo: That's because non-Islamic terrorists are swept under the rug and/or never even labelled as such. The nearest terrorist attack to where I live was a white English dude.
Graham | 07.12.19 - 12:11 p.m. | #
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Jimbo, we don't get Jewish terrorists in this country, but in Palestine they run riot; stealing land and threatening people all the time. Now, thanks to the US, it's all been declared perfectly legal.
Go and visit if you haven't been there.
RogerB | 07.12.19 - 12:48 p.m. | #
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Another lesson might be that one side making promises they have no intention of keeping doesn't seem to bother voters, as that's what they now expect. Meanwhile, when the other side makes promises they will carry out, voters don't believe it can be possible, so brainwashed are they by imposed austerity into accepting the present situation.
ActonMan | 07.12.19 - 1:12 p.m. | #
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My tactical vote strategy is to tell the Labour party leadership to sort themselves out (reducing size of lical Labour backbencher majority); in my area and with likely potential outcome in other areas my vote had no other practical use.
MilesT | 07.12.19 - 4:21 p.m. | #
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Boris Johnson is living proof that if you lie often enough, eventually people will start to believe you.
Richard | 07.12.19 - 5:16 p.m. | #
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In a 28,000 majority constituency what worth is my vote? Wake me up when we've gone to hell in a handcart.
Fred | 07.12.19 - 5:26 p.m. | #
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I so want to say something - I know how I'll vote but to antagonise a portion of this readership isn't what I'm for, nor are most of you.
I've met Johnson, twice - he doesn't know what truth is. I've met Corbyn (briefly) - he's honest, principled but not linked to reality. I know Libs, and often wish I didn't. The Greens had me until they said they'd stop HS2. And I hope I never meet Farrij (rhymes with garage, East End pronunciation) or his mates.
If it's close enough we'll be back polling within a year, maybe with more honest and/or connected leaders. I'd cry but I've already run out of tears.
But - whatever your view, vote, even if it's only to spoil the ballot paper.
Joel | 07.12.19 - 8:06 p.m. | #
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How has the country got into this mess?
By not using Proportional Representation of course.
Only three of the 43 'european nations' do not use PR.
The U.K, Belarus, France.
(I would suggest that all three have serious defecits in the representation of their peoples.)
"But we want to keep our constituency MP link.."
It's possible if the U.K. would introduce the MMP or Additional Member System. Germany, Europe's largest economy and power, albeit the one with the smallest ego and not the loudest mouth, has used this system for seventy years. It is the basis of its post war success. It is also the one that I now use, since I became a German Citizen - Thank you, Farridge.
It is possible that the coming U.K. election will spew up another minority government or even a majority one with a mandate of 30% of the electorate - that is not democracy.
(More Info)
IsarSteve | Homepage | 07.12.19 - 8:47 p.m. | #
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Lab1. Well it depends what you mean by "the country" among the under 50s Labour have a large lead, it's only the "I'm alright Jack" over 50s who keep voting Tory in huge numbers.
Lab4. Except in 2017 Labour won their second largest numerical vote of the last 40 years, beaten only by the 1997 landslide. We don't know what the results will be this time. People were predicting doom and gloom in 2017 as well.
Lab7. The Labour manifesto would take our level of public spending to about that of France or Germany, hardly ruinous!
Lab8. Anti-semitism among the Labour Party membership is statistically at a far smaller level than the public at large and in the Conservative Party. Not that you would know that by the obsessive media coverage
Grichal | 07.12.19 - 9:10 p.m. | #
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It happens to an extent e very time, but this time I have a very strong sense that this election is being fought over mirages. A recipe for much disappointment.
NickW | 07.12.19 - 11:16 p.m. | #
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Most alternative/proportional/transferable vote systems would have given the Tories and SNP fewer seats in 2017 and Labour and LibDems more. Some methods benefit the smaller parties and might have given UKIP (remember them?) and the Greens about 10 seats each. One mapping of the 'proportional' EU election result would give us about 450 Brexit MPs and no Tories! Be careful what you wish for!
ActonMan | 08.12.19 - 12:42 a.m. | #
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Be careful what you wish for..
..even if it what the people voted for..
That's a very warped idea of democracy.
Once again. It is not up to the system to make sure that certain parties do not win any seats. Especially if it negates the vote of anyone who didn't vote for the winner.
IsarSteve | Homepage | 08.12.19 - 7:40 a.m. | #
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It isn't a choice between Brexit and the NHS, some of us want both; they're not mutually exclusive, that's Remainer propaganda.
Darren | 08.12.19 - 11:26 p.m. | #
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You weren't asking, but I suspect a hung parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party. Given that almost no-one will work with them, that probably means a minority Labour government at the front of a "coalition of chaos" (which won't be able implement most of the Labour party's more ambitious policies) leading to a second referendum next year, and then probably a second general election.
Slightly less likely, a Conservative majority - in which case, hold on to your hats.
Andrew | 09.12.19 - 10:26 a.m. | #
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Go on then, which Labour leader would be doing better right now?
Std | 09.12.19 - 10:41 a.m. | #
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Std's point stands. There is no serious opposition to JC (yet). Everyone who challenged him last time was worse in terms of being a leadership vacuum. Which is what I think his biggest problem is, not the policies.
Chz | 09.12.19 - 10:50 a.m. | #
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No one in this election is offering socialism. No need to parrot right-wing media nonsense.
G | 09.12.19 - 11:48 a.m. | #
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Apologies G, but it is Corbyn and McDonnell who style themselves as socialists, not just the right wing press. McDonnell has consistently referred to the need for a “socialist transformation” (as per his 4 December New Statesman interview) or his 2017 quote on the Andrew Marr show that “he was going to be the first socialist in the tradition of the Labour Party” or the 2 September Salford Labour rally when McDonnell introduced Corbyn as the “next socialist prime minister”.
Both Corbyn and McDonnell are proud to call themselves Socialists - let’s not pretend otherwise. The policies of the current Labour Party are more left wing than anything post 1983. They are more left wing than anything currently followed or proposed in most major developed countries. Again, we can debate the rights and wrongs of such policies but it will be interesting whether there is appetite for them or whether the historic preference for “centrist” parties will continue.
William | 09.12.19 - 1:09 p.m. | #
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I live in a safe constituency represented by a front-bench MP who is standing for re-election. The candidate's latest leaflet mentions the candidate's name 41 times, the candidate's party 4 times, the name of the leader of the other main party 3 times ....... and the name of the candidate's own party leader not once! What can I make of that? Being a safe constituency there has been no canvassing, of course.
Ian | 09.12.19 - 5:23 p.m. | #
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