Tuesday 28 May 2019

EU Elections Thread



Over at The Other Place Fedup2 is offering a prize "for the most biased comment by a BBC employee during the outcome of an election which should never have involved the UK – if it was a democracy". 

I feel inclined to follow suit, minus the offer of a prize - other and Sue and I's warmest regards. 

What gems of BBC bias are we going to get tonight? Will the BBC be spraying loaded labels around about right-leaning parties like there's no tomorrow (both tonight and tomorrow)? 

I do hope all our old BBC favourites are up and at, doing their thing. I've not seen poor Jenny Hill for a while. 

Anyhow, here's a fresh parallel thread to the present Open Thread for your (and my) thoughts on the BBC's EU elections coverage tonight. 

I suspect I'll be staying up. Even if this election shouldn't be happening here, I do love an election results night. So it might even turn into a live blog. (How exciting!)

157 comments:

  1. Triple Bias Score for 'Our Gavin didn't lose his deposit!'.

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    1. Please, please let Gavin get beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party!

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  2. "Well it looks like the party is over for UKIP. Totally eclipsed by its bigger brother. The end for of the road for Gerard Batten and his Far Right colleagues, including the controversial Carl Benjamin who infamously made rape threats against a Labour female MP."

    "Some say Tommy Robinson's campaign was aided by the milkshake attacks. Makes you wonder whether those attacks were actually what they seemed..."

    "The EU will not be impressed by these results. They will just increase the frustration felt by Europe's leaders. They will be willing to talk but their position on the Withdrawal Agreement won't change. Europe feels the deal has been done. They are well used to Nigel Farage who has cut something of a comic or controversial figure in the European Parliament. So it's a case of plus ce change...All in all a good night for the EU. Katya Adler, Brussels."

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    1. I thought broadcasters had to be impartial until the polls close in rest of EU!

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    2. To use an Americanism - she is a piece of work (or even a p.o.s.)

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    3. In case anyone's confused I did make up the Katya Adler quote! lol just entering into the spirit of things.

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  3. 8pm News Channel: Michael Gove's announcement that he will stand is BBC's cue to say that he and Boris "fell out" in last Leadership contest. Strange that, my recollection is that Gove stabbed Boris in the back! Never mind, it's given the BBC an excuse to show footage of Gove, last time around, saying that Boris was unsuited to the job. Notice the Beeb's choice of words, they "fell-out" - suggestive of a pair of squabbling children.

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    1. It's amazing what the BBC finds an excuse for...Rees-Mogg wearing a monocle at 10, what Nigel said 20 years ago, what Carl Benjamin said in an obscure tweet.

      But they have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to Angela Smith MP's racist meandersings, Jess Phillips comparing the Cologne attacks to a night out in Birmingham, two party officials having to be removed from Change UK within a couple of days of its founding (for racist comments), Corbyn consorting with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian Mullas, Ghadaffi and the IRA, McDonnell making vile comments about the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher or praising IRA murderers, Lib Dems (Nick Clegg included) promising a simple in-out referendum years before David Cameron, the leaflet sent to every household promising the result of the Referendum would be implemented (never actually heard that raised by a BBC journo ever!!! - only occasionally their interviewees), Ken Clarke's business selling cancer-causing tobacco to hundreds of millions of dirt poor people around the world, Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry on record promises to respect the EU Referendum result...

      I could carry on - all night.

      Some things go down the memory hole and some things are preserved and brought out for regular public viewing like sacred relics.

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  4. Katya Alder tweets tonight ;
    Will this be seen as the night of Europe’s populist right? Or a vote for change?

    Aren’t they one in the same Katya ???

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    1. Good spot! For the BBC "change" is a good thing (Copyright Tony Blair 1997)so being a good thing can only apply to left-liberal parties doing well.

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    2. Here's that Katya Adler Twitter thread in full:

      Other developments to look out for tonight, apart from UK European Election results and the Brexit implications: /1

      Germany: Angela Merkel’s CDU party bracing itself for losses while coalition partner Social Democrats fear a beating. If this materialises, could the German gov collapse? The two parties have a meeting scheduled tomorrow morning /2

      Also in Germany, watch the results of far right AfD. Have they peaked? We at BBC not reporting exit polls /3

      European Election 2019 results in France will also affect the national government. Macron has been wobbly at home and on his European agenda. Today’s vote is viewed as a judgement on his performance to date /4

      Also in France, if nationalist Marine Le Pen performs strongly, it will boost the voice of the right wing populist group that hopes to sit together in the new European Parliament. The other ‘star’ in their crown would be Italy’s deputy PM Matteo Salvini /5

      Italy: Salvini is hoping to head the biggest single party in the European Parliament. If he performs strongly today, he will be tempted to try to force early elections in Italy .. He’d love to be prime minister /6

      The Greens: They’re hoping to be kingmakers in the new European Parliament. Are Europe’s voters as engaged in the environment as they believe? /7

      Will this be seen as the night of Europe’s populist right? Or a vote for change? The night Europeans make clear politics have changed for good. Where, instead of majority vote for centre right and centre left as is traditionally the case in EU, voters now looking elsewhere /8

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  5. Sky News - Adam Boulton desperately floating conspiracy theory about "voter suppression" to deny Remain their full vote (basically non UK EU citizens failing to get their forms in on time or Councils failing to process their forms).

    He's saying the turnout will be 37%. Sounds too low to me, but we shall see. Basically I don't trust Boulton more than I could throw him...in fact I couldn't throw him at all. Very few people could.

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    1. I suspect that theory will gain legs in the coming days as one of the main excuses to divert from the actual result.

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    2. Well, here's how things are in rural Normandy: my, French, wife received yesterday a large envelope containing a dozen, unfolded A4-sheets, each detailing the 'pitch' of one of a dozen parties.

      It's the first time my wife has voted in France & she turned up at the polling station, expecting to place a cross next to the party of her choice. Mais non - too easy! What you have to do is take with you the blurb from the party of your choice, fold it & cram it into a tiny envelope (not the large one shown on news) Just in case you've forgotten your paper, the polling station has tables bearing all the necessary bumf. Just one problem: each party's flyer is of a different colour, so the officials can see which party you've voted for! The kindly officials advised my wife to take several sheets into the booth, so that they wouldn't know her choice; they did, however, warn her that they hadn't received papers from all the parties!

      Banana republic? - you don't need to travel that far!

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  6. Tom Harwood, Guido Fawkes Journo tweets;

    Whatever else happens tonight, we can be fairly sure that Gerard Batten, that FBPE QC, and ‘Tommy Robinson’ will all lose and that I think will be a victory for everyone.

    Confirmation that Guido blog is now part of Westminster establishment bubble.

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    1. Yep. Bubble Central. Glorified gossip column.

      Just virtue signalling. Tell us what Tommy has said that you disagree with and why...nope, silence as always. Likewise with Gerard Batten.

      I expect Harwood approves of this absurd
      charade:

      https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/05/26/watch-hunt-stands-to-attention-for-islamic-call-to-prayer-at-foreign-office/

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  7. Sky suggesting Remainers have got out their vote and Leavers haven't. We shall see. They may be piling up vote in London and maybe Labour voters are not coming out in northern Leave areas.

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    1. Les Preservatifs nul points?

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    2. Erm, 'Préservatif' is French for 'condom! :-)

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    3. Oh dear - Lost in translation 😂

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    4. It's 'les Conservateurs' but, never mind, you're right: it's pretty well nul points! 😉

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  8. Published on their website, the BBC say;
    Watch for new alliance of the far right. Europe's right-wing nationalists have rarely succeeded in finding common ground - but this time they have tried very hard to do so.

    So right wing parties now grouped as ‘far-right’ if they support nationalism.

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  9. Can I recommend following Prof Matthew Goodwin on twitter; he has a great grasp on what is happening across Europe both from a short term and, more importantly, a long term perspective.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/GoodwinMJ?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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  10. A theme already emerging from rita chakrabarti manning? the results screen. So far, she has focussed in on how well LDs have done before giving TBP result.

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  11. Quite enjoying spectacle of a very pale Thornberry waving a pudgy paw around to emphasize her point that the poor Labour result shows people want a second referendum. You what?

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  12. I'm happy. Gavin Esler failed to get a seat in London.

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  13. So far I think the BBC coverage hasn't been that biased. Oddly. The main thing has been the studious avoidance of the issue of the NW England region and Tommy Robinson, sorry Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, former leader of the Far Right EDL (did I get that right?).

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  14. Katya Adler tweets ;
    EU establishment breathing a huge sigh of relief that nationalist populist parties don’t appear to have performed as strongly in #EuropeanElection2019 as those parties hoped

    someone has immediately commented ;
    Le pen wins, salvini wins, farage wins

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  15. This PR is very weird, one party can get 500,000 more votes in a region but get awarded the same number of seats

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    1. It's called the de Hondt method but basically if you divide by the vote by the number of seats you see how it works.

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    2. "divide [by] the vote"

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  16. It's all been the UK results so far on the BBC. They've completely ignored the European results. Little Englanders!

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    1. We've just been having a chuckle about that - parochial, aren't they? Or maybe they don't want to tell us how Le Pen's been doing!

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  17. Lord Adonis remains unelected. He lost in the South West.

    I remain happy.

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    1. I didn't know that! Fantastic!!!

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    2. Excellent news. I googled him to find out if he stood and knew then he'd lost as I'd seen the SW result that Widdecombe and a couple of Brexiters got in. Well done to the old girl. Claire Fox another good solid character and campaigner also won in the North West along with two others.

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  18. French daily 'Le Monde' (slightly left of centre, but less so than Guardian) is saying that the 'extreme right', be they French, Italian, Hungarian or British will be 'a heavy presence' in new Parliament.

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  19. “In the UK a new anti-EU party, the Brexit Party is heading for victory at the expense of the Conservative Party, while pro-EU Liberal Democrats are taking votes from the traditionally centre-left Labour Party”

    This is bollocks - the leave vote doesn’t match the left and right traditional split.

    European elections 2019: What we know so far https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48415362

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    1. Yes, absolute rubbish. The UKIP vote has clearly collapsed. The Brexit Party is obviously taking most of the UKIP vote but they are also taking Labour and Conservative votes aplenty.


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  20. I wonder how many UK Leavers haven't voted because they don't think we should still be in EU.

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    1. A far few I’d imagine plus complete disgust with the waste of time it was last time.

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  21. I see the left leaning remain mantra is already that more people voted for “Remain” parties so it’s actually a vote to remain - completely ignoring that the Labour and Conservatives Party remaining voters could want either.

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    1. Yes, they're really going with that.

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    2. Yes, that is today's BIG LIE! :) Alistair Campbell was straight on it even having the gall to admit he was (for Wales) taking the Labour vote out of his calculation! :)

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  22. Adam Boulton way more biased than Huw! :) So well done BBC.

    But then Boulton is married to Blair's press groupie...so not so odd.



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    1. Yes, I think Kuenssberg's been pretty fair too.

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    2. Agreed. Just shows we can spot real bias when it's there! :) This is like Church on Sunday for the BBC I suppose: best behaviour. Plus they haven't got Dimbo there - he couldn't resist his biased interventions.

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    3. Yes, the BBC is doing OK, (so far) playing it with a straight bat.

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    4. There was just one thing, early on, when someone, Suzanne Evans I think, took a swipe at Tommy Robinson (aka etc!) Huw Edwards then said something I didn't catch, but it looked as though he was agreeing . Did anyone hear what he said?

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    5. Interesting that all us dedicated bias-spotters can see when coverage is reasonably impartial! :)

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  23. I've been switching between BBC and Sky but I haven't seen a single reference to the NW Region!!! :) Has anyone else?

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  24. “Overall, out of 46 MEPs declared so far, Nigel Farage's party has won 21, the Lib Dems 10, Labour seven, Green five, Conservatives two and Plaid Cymru one.”

    Leave
    TBP - 22
    Tories - 2
    Total - 24

    Remain
    Lib Dem’s - 10
    Labour - 7
    Green - 5
    PC - 1
    Total - 23

    Just thought I’d play their game - it’s still a loss for remain so far.....

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    1. Probably switching between seats and popular vote as it suits them. :)

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    2. And the beauty of it is it's a PR result, so nobody can protest that the result is a quirk of FPTP!

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  25. Have I gone mad? Or is the Beeb who can’t count? That totals 47.

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  26. Adam Boulton doesn't hold back - describes Claire Fox as a "former Marxist". Does he describe Andrew Marr as a former Marxist? I doubt it!!

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  27. 2.2% of the North West vote for Tommy.

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    1. Yes he fell far short but it was a respectable vote for an independent candidate - probably one of the best ever.

      Let's remember because (deliberately) his candidacy was never covered by the UK MSM, we could never know how well was doing during the campaign.

      I accept the democratic verdict on his candidacy. It's no reflection on the truth or otherwise of what he states.

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    2. Unfortunately his brand is too toxic, unfairly or not.

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    3. Yes, if the media paint you as toxic then you are toxic. QED. But whether you are truthful, rather than toxic, is an entirely different matter.

      I have never been a Tommy Robinson "fan" but he undoubdtedly engages with issues that any patriotic politician must engage with. Maybe he gets it wrong a lot of the time, but at least he engages with the issues. Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Greens all refuse to engage with these issues. The only reason they get away with it is because all the alternative voices are not allowed on to MSM as free voices (only allowed on as "set-ups", "take-downs", "victims of virtue signallers" etc).

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    4. He is too aggressive when he talks for me and it distracts from his message, but I do believe he is unfairly treated.

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    5. Clockworkorange - I don't disagree about your criticism. Voltaire, probably the greatest ever defender of free speech, was a very unpleasant individual.

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  28. Is the Green Party really claiming that every single of their voters want us to stay in the EU? I don't believe that for one moment.

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    1. I know all the “remain” members of the other parties are at it. An equal argument could be made that only people who voted for CUKers and Lib Dem’s should be counted. I can see this spinning getting very annoying in the next few weeks.

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    2. Jenny Jones (Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb) - the only Green in the House of Lords and their London mayoral candidate in 2012 - is strongly pro-Leave for starters.

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    3. Excellent fact - I shall use that.

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    4. Nice one Craig - I'd forgotten that!!

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    5. Ah, is that why we never see or hear from her any more?

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  29. Hmm. Huw's interview with Ann Widdecombe was his most 'probing' of the night so far. He described her as 'feisty' afterwards - as she was.

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    1. I recall Hugh Rifkind (extreme Remainiac in case you're wondering) admonishing Trump for his use of "feisty" in relation to a woman as it was the sort of word a rapist uses in relation to his victim...

      So I think this conjures up all the wrong images...

      Shame on you Huw for making me conjure up these images! :)

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  30. “Change UK have posted 1,542 votes in Broxtowe (Notts). That's Anna Soubry's seat.

    Meanwhile, the Brexit Party has won 11,668.”

    From a tweet have never figured out how to link them. Happy days.

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    1. No probs - Anna Soubry made it clear before and after the Referendum that she would accept and help implement the Referendum decision. She hasn't explained yet when and where she changed her mind. Change Minds UK. :)

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    2. She's never off the BBC pontificating about her highly principled stance and proclaiming what her constituents allegedly keep telling her but she doesn't get pulled up on that at all.

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  31. Wowsers the BBC main headline is currently “Brexit Party Dominates in EU elections” !

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  32. Gerard Batten has done well all things considered when he has kept UKIP over 3%. Just behind Change UK which got so much positive media coverage.

    UKIP has a base. It won't be wiped out.

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  33. Gavin Esler - "Flatline London"?

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  34. Nerdy point. Dan Hannan made Huw and Laura laugh by saying that the result was even worse than 1832 for the Tories. Then The Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood said of 1832 "I think it then took a military leader, the Duke of Wellington, to then pull things back together for the Conservative Party", and Huw hmmmed in apparent agreement. No, no, no. The Duke of Wellington left office in 1830, opposed the 1832 Reform Act, was never reconciled to its democratic moves, and it was Robert Peel who saved the Tories and created the Conservative Party.

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    1. Didn’t he have two goes in charge?

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    2. I'm happy to finally implement the Chartists' manifesto including annual election to Parliament. :)

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    3. He almost did, but he couldn't form a government in 1832, so Earl Grey (of weak tea fame) was reinstated.

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  35. Another useful fact for when we go forth and discuss with our Remainer friends - EU nationals can vote here in the EU elections, they can’t in a GE or referendum.

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    1. An excellent point...:) Not something you will ever hear on the BBC.

      There are well over 3 million EU nationals here.

      They obviously are highly motivated to vote against Brexit (don't blame them).

      So they are probably turning out at least 50% compared with 37%...so they could well represent something like 10% of the actual votes.

      Thanks Clockworkorange for that reminder...if we watch the MSM we just get brainwashed about these things!

      How come although I've been watching all night no one has mentioned this really important point! :)

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    2. Think I read it first on one of the many sites I frequent - don’t actually watch TV anymore!

      They are also more likely to be in the major cities -check out the voting maps....

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    3. Yes they will have a concentrated effect in urban areas which can help pick up seats, rather than having a general spread across the country.

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  36. Ah, the BBC is finally looking beyond the Channel to the "populists": James Reynolds on Matteo Salvini, and then Katya and her "nuanced" and "fragmented" results. Wow, she used the phrase "the far-left" and didn't use the phrase "the far-right". I didn't see that coming!

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  37. Right, that's it for me - we're an hour ahead of you & it's definitely basket time! (You have to have watched Andy Pandy to get that one!)

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  38. I’m done - keep it up Craig and MB!

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    1. Gutt Nuecht Clockworkorange (as Jean-Claude Juncker would say).

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    2. When I was young I was taken in by the Luxembourger propaganda (amplified by the BBC) that they were basically French. Took a while to realise they were essentially German! :)

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    3. JCJ is definitely more of a Juncker than a Jean-Claude - except for his partiality for wine perhaps.

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    4. True...the wine thing does swing him back over the French border! :) But the ever closer union between wine and schapps must surely win out eventually! :)

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  39. I can save BBC and Sky a lot of time:

    "Everything to play for!!" :)

    Conservative MPs looking to re-election will take the obvious lesson - opposing real Brexit will lead to their total destruction.

    Saw Layla on the BBC - she used to look like a potential party leader...now (she's had some weird makeover) she looks like a sixth form debater.

    Tobias Ellwood - total twat trying to argue the results back May's abject surrender. What a complete tosser.

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  40. My take on tonight:

    1. There's a fight on!

    2. If you believe in Brexit then there is every reason to believe we can achieve a real Brexit.

    3. The Anti-Boris campaign will be ramped up to the nth degree.

    That's all that matters for the time being. :)

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  41. Just dipping into Twitter, someone tweeted that the radio coverage is worse, and has a "smug remain-centric tone". As I'm watching BBC One, I don't know if that's true. But the same person then said, "Mardell gets his pro-Remain numbers wrong, gets called on it then quickly says 'lets not talk about numbers'", so I've rushed on TV Eyes to find the exchange. It was with Nigel Farage. A quick late-night transcript!:

    MARK MARDELL: There's no doubt the Brexit Party's done very well, but here we've got the figures in front of us. I've just been adding up the Remain parties. They come to 1000 compared to your 900. Isn't that the picture?

    NIGEL FARAGE: No, actually, I think you might be...

    MARK MARDELL: (interrupting) Well, Greens, Lib Dems and, er, Change UK.

    NIGEL FARAGE: So add up the Brexit Party, Ukip and the Conservatives. It's a much bigger number.

    MARK MARDELL: Yeah, but the get the Remain parties that clearly stand for remain?

    NIGEL FARAGE: Well, the Brexit Party's leave, the Ukip Party's leave, and the Conservative party say they're leave...

    MARK MARDELL: (interrupting) They say they are but you say they're not. Well, I mean, all right, let's not get into an argument about figures. You know what I mean: The Remain parties are doing just as well as Brexit, if not better,

    NIGEL FARAGE: Well, they're split in a sense, and it's a multiparty election. It's not a referendum, it's is a multiparty election. Had it been a referendum Leave would have won here in the South East as it would across the country.

    MARK MARDELL: So why not have a second referendum?

    NIGEL FARAGE: Because we've had one. To force people to do it again is absolutely wrong. You don't do. We should have implemented the first one.

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    1. You only had to type MARDELL for my bias alarm to go on! :)

      Let's be realistic. This is a war and this is just one battle in the war...

      Everything to play for...

      (And an honourable mention to UKIP on 3% - all things considered a good result).

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  42. Tobias Ellwood is one of the worst Conservatives around at the moment. Worse than May really. He's claiming Trump had no positive policies! Absolute BS - Trump had loads of positive policies eg tax cuts, economic stimulus, remaking international trade deals and infrastructure investment.

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    1. He was in full virtue-signalling mode.

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  43. Ex-BBC loser Gavin Esler has tweeted: "A huge thanks to the 117000 Londoners who voted for ChangeUK- and to our amazing party across the country who in a few weeks have campaigned so hard. Now the real fight begins - to save Britain from the self-harm of Brexit in a People’s Vote and work to Remain."

    I see Allison Pearson of the Telegraph replied, "You lost. Embarrassingly. That’s what you get for being condescending and rude to millions of decent people".

    I'm still happy.

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    1. Nice comment Allison! :)

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  44. BBC can't work out why there is no anti-mass immigration vote in Portugal. Can I suggest a solution: that there are hardly any migrants coming into Portugal.

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  45. Well, that's me too MB. As Donald Tusk would say, Dobranoc!

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  46. I looked up Tusk - he's not a proper Pole (love the Poles!) he's a kind of Baltic-German. It's all on Wikipedia - never mentioned on the BBC of course! :)

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  47. Congratulations to all who survived marathon - it made the rout all the more enjoyable!

    Belated reply to MB's 'Little Weed,' 'Flobberdob!'

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    1. Who says it's over? :)

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    2. I was back up for Anna Soubry on 'Today' this morning. Someone somewhere described her performance as being like Comical Ali. She really did try and claim the results as a success from Change UK/The Independent Group of Tiggers because they're a new party and they got 600,000 votes. Mishal Husain missed a trick in not pointing out that an even newer party won 5.25 million votes!

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    3. The funniest thing about that Anna Soubry interview was her slagging off Heidi Allen, her interim leader. Maybe she should break away from CHUK and form another new party, the Anna Soubry Party (ASP)?

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    4. Saw that! They should give her her own comedy show, to replace HIGNFY. Her performance is,indeed, pure comical Ali!

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    5. Re: her take on the success of the, even newer, Brexit Party, she dismissed that (BBC Breakfast) as 'not really a new party, because they had absorbed UKIP. Desperate stuff!

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  48. What does the BBC phrase "Far Right" mean? No mention of Far Left, Centreist old and stale etc.

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  49. This is fun - a falling-out on the far-Left, starring everyone's favourite ex-BBC 'democratic socialist'. My favourite bit is the extreme-left website Sqwawkbox saying that Paul lives in the Alps now. Does he?

    PAUL MASON: Three point plan for Labour. 1. A members ballot on Remain/Reform as the new line. 2. Sack the officials responsible for this fiasco. 3. Defend Corbyn against the inevitable coup. More from me tomorrow - sign our petition here.

    IAN LAVERY MP: Had a lot of respect for you @paulmasonnews but calling for the sacking of hard working committed @uklabour staff is a shocking response from a so called JC supporting socialist. What happened to workers of the world unite?

    PAUL MASON: I'm calling for your resignation as well. If people actively obstruct the leader, brief against him, refuse to enact decisions they are not doing their jobs - and how can we have a party chair who breaks the whip?

    SKWAWKBOX: I'm calling for you to stfu and concentrate on selling your book, Paul. Wtf happened to you? Is it true you're living in the Alps now? I'll back Lavery and our other working-class MPs any day, who haven't forgotten what this is all about.

    PAUL MASON: I won't be shutting up: Stalinism in Britain destroys everything it touches and I'm not going to let it destroy our radical social democracy. You'll soon be short of "senior Labour sources" to fuel your nutty conspiracy theories...

    AARON BASTANI: Nah mate, I think you’ve completely fucked it. Unless by radical social democracy you mean the Lib Dem’s? Or no deal?

    Ha, Paul Mason condemning 'Stalinism' in the party while wanted to get rid of Labour people who aren't loyal to the supreme leader is typical Paul Mason. As is the fact that he seems obviously to the fact that that very leader's two closest advisers - Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray - are pretty much literally Stalinists.

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  50. Wonder if they're having crisis meetings at the Ministry of Truth. Just think, despite 3 years of relentless anti-Brexit propaganda, the proles have dared to defy them and vote for the Brexit Party!

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    1. Yes when you look at it that way then it is quite a remarkable result.

      The issue now is whether the Brexit Party can build on this success by creating a manifesto that attracts attention. How about these ideas:

      1. "Abolition of the TV licence fee within 4 years." BBC to convert to subscription service over 10 years with some bridging grant.

      2. "Cut water rates." Reform of the water supply system in the UK. Water rates and water metering are a real tax on the poor. In Ireland tap water is actually free. The UK's tariffs are among the highest in Europe but it has very low capital investment. One reform might be to require companies to outsource their management every 5 years and for management teams to bid on lower tarrifs for same service. There is currently no incentive to efficiency in the system. Companies have been handed monopolies.

      3. "Abolish the House of Lords". Replace it with a national PR election system of 100 members with another 100 non-voting expert members drawn from various backgrounds.

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    2. Most of the water companies are French-owned, so let's nationalise them! ;-)

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  51. 4. Turn Westminster into a museum and have a central parliament somewhere in the midlands. Alternatively have one parliament but move around to each of the devolved parliaments every 6 months.

    5. Limit MPs to three terms. Just because.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 4. Yes, I have previously suggested Cheshire as a location for a new parliament. How about the Dee Estuary or even Morecambe Bay (how are you fixed Craig?) on reclaimed land - a move to be symbolic of a reclaimed democracy.

      Delete
  52. 6. No ID no vote, and ban postal votes. The system is being abused BIGLY.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Chris Morris has been quick off the mark with his Reality Check on The Brexit Party’s Brexit.

    Full of his trademark personal opinions and lack of research. Low on facts it’s just another puff piece and he doesn’t even try to hide his distaste of the party and Farage from the first paragraph.

    The articles’ last two sentences show his contempt and bias. How on earth does he get away with it?


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48422801

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appallingly biased. It could have been written by Donald Tusk. As usual it's not a check on reality - it's a speculative discussion about the future, which by definition is unknowable at this point.

      Just to take him to task on one point (there are of course a hundred of his statements you could dispute), it is clear that a No Deal exit will change the dynamics. For one thing we will be divorced. The EU can no longer dictate the terms of the "divorce". The EU may wish to raise the backstop, the financial settlement and so on, but it can no longer dictate terms. We will have left and there will be no hard border in N Ireland, so there will be no need for a backstop - just an affirmation that neither side intends to put in place a hard border.

      Delete
    2. Do you remember the BBC's programme Scenario by James Burke? A team would be posed a geo-political question and then, when they tried to come up with solutions, Morris-like Burke would tell them it can't be done.

      JB: "Germany needs more land for its people, what should it do?"
      Panel: "Invade Poland!"
      JB: "I'm sorry, that would be contrary to international law".

      Duh! Black swans Morris, black swans.

      Delete
  54. Did you know?

    There's a Newsnight special on now - from 7 - 730 pm. We've missed most of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What was the bias level? 10? Or 12?

      Delete
    2. It was too late to get a proper idea. Mark Urban was presenting. Anyone who's signed in can still get it on iplayer. I'm not.

      Delete
    3. It's on You Tube now...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_jQCINoHGk

      Actually didn't seem too bad as BBC Bias goes.

      Delete
  55. BBC Midlands Today excelled themselves tonight. The European Election results weren’t even top story. When it came on, the focus was on TBP being fascists. The Report used the guise of a row to present viewers with a string of soundbites accusing the winners of being far right’ and fascists’.

    As usual for this regional news prog, their left leaning multicultural agenda was all too clear, it didn’t even attempt to display balance and we were left in no doubt where it stood on the winner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just as well I missed that, Arne - blood pressure already dangerously high from celebrating BP's win...or as Campell & the Beeb would have it, their 'defeat!' I remain convinced that Midlands Today is the worst of all the regional news progs.

      Delete
    2. PS Never mind, their 3 years of relentless anti-Brexit propaganda didn't work; in fact, I suspect it angered people & was counter-productive!

      Delete
  56. Mail Online reports complaints about biased coverage by the BBC, mentioning the downplaying of Brexit Party in favour of Liddems and Greens, and Alastair Campbell's antics.
    'Furious Brexit Party supporters have lashed out at BBC election coverage claiming it was 'biased' and downplayed Nigel Farage's triumph at the polls.

    The corporation faced fury for emphasising the strong performance of the Remain-supporting Greens and Liberal Democrats rather than focusing on Mr Farage's victory.

    BBC presenters were also taken to task for allowing former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell to grill another guest over the Brexit Party's finances.'

    I noticed he was on there last night but elected not to listen to anything he had to say. He's either on BBC or Sky for these events but this time Sky had that Miller woman, which is just as bad. She has been busy this week, appearing on Any Questions? as well.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7073467/Tories-listen-millions-voted-change-says-Boris-Johnson.html

    ReplyDelete
  57. ITV, not BBC - they had the classic interviewing old Brexit supporter on his mobility scooter. It might even have been outside a bookies...I forget. He wasn't smoking though, so demerit there for ITV.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Studiously ignored by the BBC, no doubt.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/05/25/600000-migrants-arrive-in-uk-in-one-year/

    Immigration to UK continues to run at over 600,000 per annum (city the size of Belfast)! Net migration is still over 250,000 per annum - or 2.5 million a decade.

    Just in order to maintain your housing stock, you would need to provide something like 1 million homes for the 2.5 million additional people, or build another 100,000 homes per annum. We are currently building about 160,000. But many of those units go to "business visitors" (around 8 million per annum, many of whom are effectively part time residents of the UK).

    We have a serious housing crisis and the addition of 250,000 people every year is making it worse. It will also play through to a financial crisis. Many of these people are low skill or no skill workers. They are in no position to fund their own housing. They come into the country and live in multi-occupation properties, often outside the law. But eventually they want to start a family and then they need proper housing.

    A Shelter report from Dec 18 states:

    "There will bean estimated 131,000 children who are homeless in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) this Christmas.1•This is 3% higher than last year(or over 3,000 more children), 59%higher than five years ago(nearly 50,000 more children).•Five English regions have seen a greater percentage increase in homeless children than London(up 49%), over the last five years –East of England (up 177%), the North West (up 175%), West Midlands (up 142%), East Midlands (up 131%) and the South East (up 108%)"

    The regions reporting the biggest rises match areas with greatest immigration.

    The BBC once notoriously put on a Newnsnight special for over an hour about the housing crisis and didn't mention mass immigration once!

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    Replies
    1. Truly scary stats although we shouldn’t be suprised because we come across it now in our daily lives. In my sleepy rural town, I’m often the the only person speaking English in Tesco express, surrounded by Eastern European’s in the coffee shop and we have a number of hijab wearing women in our high street when five years ago there were none.

      Questioning or criticising mass immigration is a taboo subject on the BBC.

      Delete
  59. Forced to board ferry to UK just as Diane Abbott was about to share with John Humphrys her thoughts on the election results. A great pity because I was looking forward to hearing her 'take' on the maths! Details please, if anybody heard it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 65% to Remain and 40% to Leave, I guess...with 5% undecided. Presumably the BBC will be pressing her on past actions and statements like they do Farage - e.g. asking about her trip to Communist East Germany with Jeremy Corbyn when they were lovers or sending her son to a private school, despite opposing private education for others, or her various racist statements. Or maybe they won't.

      Delete
    2. Arithmetic probably spot-on! Other predictions too. :-)

      Delete
  60. Allison Pearson is on sparkling form in today's Telegraph - See "You wanted a People's Vote? Well, here it is."(News section).

    Just to whet your appetite: "That cockatoo of conceit, Alastair Campbell...La Dementa herself, Anna Soubry...Emily Thornberry, that barrage balloon of self-regard..." The Beeb is not spared either!

    ReplyDelete
  61. Here’s a story from the BBC website
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48374911

    The first baby step to Sharia Law policing? How long before we see it copied here?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've already had them...there's video of them on You Tube in operation (on foot) around the East End of London telling people to empty beer cans and so on. Of course such videos might now have been taken down.

      Delete
  62. The Brexit Party victory has been completely wiped from the BBC Website today.

    It had its one day of glory to prove impartiality but now we will get weeks of anti-TBP and pro second referendum stories along with a new no-deal project fear.

    It has already started with the Jeremy Hunt headline. Pro Brexit stories will now be as scarce as hens teeth on BBC and MSM.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes indeed.

      Can you imagine how different things would be if the Green Party had scored 32% ? We'd still be getting comments from Greta, ongoing analysis and frequent references to their "stunning victory in what after all was a national election".

      Delete
    2. Everyone should read this transcript documented by David Keighley on the Conservative Woman site of the R4 Today interview between Nigel Farage and Justin Webb:

      https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/interview-that-blew-the-gaff-on-the-bbcs-remain-mania/

      I think we know the score.

      Delete
  63. Spiked names the delusional spinners, chief of which Campbell and Soubry - no surprise - but also Hilary Benn and that former BBC man Matt Frei doing his spinning from Channel 4. Desperate stuff from them too.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous mentions the black swan theory earlier on this thread. Hats off to the poster!

    It really is the perfect metaphor for what is happening to rationalise a remainer victory post-election.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Back to business as usual on "The Evan Davis Show" (aka "PM") with Evan repeatedly pressing his thumb on the scales to back revocation, second referendum or a May-style deal...while describing "no deal" (a biased term in itself) as something to be "endured". He is also backing the Hunt line that going to a General Election on "no deal" will spell disaster for the Conservatives. Really? Why shouldn't Boris and Nige come to an agreement over seats to be fought? If they repeated the EU elections result they would have a GE winning 40% plus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was driving on a congested piece of Motorway at the time & didn't catch the name or position of the expert on animal passports, who was doing his best to relaunch Project Fear. Davis did point out that his long list of likely 'new' requirements were actually the CURRENT ones for the current pet passport, but didn't press the point & the expert carried on Maybotically.

      I did enjoy the puffins though - maybe we could have a Puffin instead of Davis.

      Delete
    2. PS re: Davis's "no deal," he actually slipped in, "sometimes known as WTO terms" - just a pity he didn't bother to mention that those terms don't mean 'no deal' or 'falling off a cliff!'

      Delete
    3. I think it was Andrew Hood. Yes, the ever impartial Evan went to a form advisor to David Cameron for objective advice on "no deal":

      "Andrew Hood spent 13 years in Government executing a range of UK domestic, EU and international work - both as a lawyer in Government and a policy adviser on EU matters in London and Brussels. Andrew formerly acted as legal adviser to David Cameron and has direct experience negotiating for the UK in Brussels and developing EU policy within the UK."

      Actually, thinking about it, he must be an expert in "no deal" negotiations because that "deal" David Cameron negotiated with Mama Merkel prior to the Referendum was certainly "no deal" at all.

      Delete
    4. Well, you can't get more impartial than that, can you? ;-)

      Delete

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