Corbyn

[Mexicola]

Well well well... Could it actually happen?!?

[Negamuse]

No, sadly. The Tories will prop themselves up with the creationist, anti abortion, homophobic DUP and the press will step up the monstering and the mauling of Corbyn until he concedes.

He's done well, against a shameless press, to get where he has. He should have walked it against the piss poor effort the Tories put up, really how anyone can look at their campaign and vote for them is shocking to me, and that he didn't is only down to the way the press have treated him all the way through.

[vballs]

Im truly gutted to be honest, I was desperate to see Corbyns manifesto implemented. It cant happen now can it? The best I can hope is that perhaps the conservatives shitty horrible policies and fuck head ideas get halted somewhat.

[fujee]

Don't be too disheartened. It's a shame Corbyn didn't get the majority he deserved, but this result is staggering - 72% youth turnout? Unheard of. May will be ousted, the party will make sure of that. It's now up to Labour to capitalise on this momentum.

[Mexicola]

Agreed. This is the beginning of the story, not the end. The cat is out the bag. May is a lame duck. I just hope the kids realise what an impact they made and don't get disillusioned. Again, the start, not the end.

[realspiel]

What a great election. I think it's the best possible scenario, this is a complete Tory fuck up and we need them to crash even more, which they will. Corbyn and Labour have played an absolute blinder.

Labour has returned and being Welsh we have almost fully rejected those Tory bastards.

Sorry for the swearing but I'm still quite emotional.

And we got Gower back to its rightful colour.

Corbyn For the Many not the Few.

Solidarity Comrades

[jcnporter]

What an election campaign and the result is the best we could have hoped for, I think. So many silver linings to the cloud of defeat - the end of May, the engagement of the youth vote and the defeat of the right-wing press should not be underestimated.
I'm actually finding the DUP linkup quite amusing - they will be utterly toxic for each other. The DUP have never had this level of national press scrutiny before - you thought UKIP were right wing - you're all about to find out what we have to put up with year in year out and it ain't pretty!

[Scotronica]

Big ups to Jeremy. What a fighter!!!!!

[Scotronica]

Scotland let the side down unfortunately. As one young girl said to me today "do they not like the free prescriptions up here?"

[Mexicola]

....and guess what? The Tories now have to sort out Brexit - another fucking omnishambles they're responsible for - with both hands tied behind their backs. Even the DUP want soft Brexit. Corbyn has never looked more like a Prime Minister in waiting and that's something I never thought I'd say. Kim Jong May must be on the verge of a nervous breakdown and crying a salty tear into her HRT medication at night. Good. If there's one thing you can guarantee, it's that the Tory shitehawks will be clambering over one another to stick the long knives in and she knows it. Reap the whirlwind you poisonous trout. Strong and stable turned out to be a punchline.

[Betacord]

Well - no dull re-run of 2015 this time! Proverbial hat has been eaten here.

The exit poll was the first sign it could be interesting, but the poll was also broadly similar to 2015 in terms of most seats, so that tempered my expectations a little, and looking at past trends the indication was that the Tories could possibly get over the line again (but then again, history has also shown that snap elections can tend to backfire...)

Ridiculous to think that, even moments before the polls closed, depending on where you looked, there were still projections of a sizeable increase in Tory seats. That's why it's so fascinating that the actual outcome flipped those pre-voting figures totally upside-down.

One thing that gives hope for the future is the greater turnout of younger voters, finally bucking the trend and not a moment too soon. I would hope this is a marker of future voting and not just a one-off.

So many people spoke against Jeremy Corbyn ever since he was the outsider running for Labour leader. Many of those being within his own party who should have actually got behind him and had faith in him, instead of prophecising that he'd lead to the destruction of the Labour vote. Those detractors are now having to admit he's got something. He's offered a real alternative and clearly enthused people who, perhaps for the first time, have seen the value of casting their vote for an opposition party that offer something genuinely different.

But it's even more of a feat given the the dominant right-wing sections of media, who from day 1 have continuously flung fabricated muck at the guy in an attempt to smear him into oblivion, intending him to lose support in this election and subsequently step down... This time though, for some reason, they couldn't make that mountain of fake dirt stick to him well enough. It may have done damage initially, but I guess as the campaign went on, people could see the true character and views of the man. I recall one commentator saying, it's as if many people saw all the front-page negative press about him, but then, mentally-speaking, just threw them all straight in the bin, doubtless for the rubbish it was. I honestly thought the combined press hatchet job would sway more voters - especially the former-UKIP ones - to not vote Labour and give a similar outcome to the last. But, like May calling the snap election itself, their tactics seem to have failed spectacularly and the party is now in a stronger position than it was those couple of years ago; one that seemed almost impossible to imagine until recently.

(Of course, had there been none of the orchestrated smearing in the first place, then something closer to a Labour majority may have even been possible. This is why the UK should really be looking at balance in the press, or at least the problem of publishing false information as 'stories' during an election / referendum campaign.)

The irony now is, instead of the long-implied Labour loss causing Corbyn to go, it's May's lost majority that's resulting in calls for her to go - the current mood seems to suggests she's hanging on by a thread which, in a matter of time, it appears is going to have to break. In reality she is now the weak leader of the two, while Corbyn, having been vindicated by his better-than-expected gain, seems assured.

Not too long ago, someone could say "Corbyn will never become PM", and from all the signs, you could logically believe they were right. But this change has prompted people to start seriously asking the question of whether he actually might. That in itself is a remarkable development.

[Negamuse]

He's still hanging on there... apparently the tory dup deal was announced early and actually isn't set in stone. Farcical. Meanwhile 150,000 people have joined labour in the last few days and they're now polling 5 percent ahead. My cynical heart can't take it...

[Mexicola]

You know you're toast as a Tory PM when George fucking Osbourne starts saying you're doomed. Schadenfreude, there's a word for you all this morning. Karma. There's another one. Peak stupid navigated perhaps? Dare to dream my friends, dare to dream.

[Aerial Boundaries]

Now Grenfell Tower summing up the last 7 years (i.e. fuck the plebs). Things aren't looking good for the party of capital.

If Labour democratize internally and manage to select more left-wing candidates for the next GE, they could be in for *multiple* terms. You know, unless in govt they cede too much ground and capitulate on radical policies (likely as the party is split between reformist socialists and social democrats, and genuine right-wingers), or there's a coup, or any of the other thousand factors working against progressives these days overwhelm them.

[Valotonin]

Since the news networks where legally obliged to give Corbyn equal airtime in the run up to the election, still heavily biased against him but at the very least showing him actually speaking rather than speaking about him, the Labour spike in popularity began. This is a spike that is continually growing post-election and they are now polling well ahead of the Tories.

It worries me that the Tories, knowing this, won't call an election on the knowledge that the only way they can clasp onto power is through a deal with extremists and waiting as long as legally possible before they next call an election. Working hand in glove with the media for the next four years to do constant Hit-Pieces on Corbyn.

What worries me the most out of all of this though, and the second I heard the words 'Coalition with the DUP' it was all I had on my mind was the fact that the Government are seriously risking starting the Troubles (something you can thank Labour for bringing an end to) in Ireland again all in the name of selfishly clinging to power. They will stop at nothing.

The fire-proof cladding for the social housing block (Grenfell) cost an extra £2 a sheet.
They chose to go with the Polyethylene cladding because it saved the local Tory council a total of £4,000.
Four thousand pounds for the lives of what will turn out to be likely over a hundred deceased. Conservative thinking. The firefighters have legitimately pulled out more than a hundred but the media are told by the government (D notice) to not inform the public of this for the purposes of 'National Security' (Saving Face)

I repeat, they will stop at nothing.

[Valotonin]

I had something important to say so I broke my Hiatus. See you guys next election or when some new material is released. Much love

[fujee]

Just went for a run round the local park and I could hear some teenagers singing that 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn' song. Sign of the times or just pissed up people? Seemed indicative, but that could just be my imagination hoping that there's something exciting happening.

[jcnporter]

It's that time again!
Interesting reading this thread again. Almost a replay of last time so far, except with a better and bolder Labour manifesto (which is exactly what they need) vs a worse PM (didn't think that was possible).
Labour pushing a real positive campaign on policy, Tories avoiding policy and going full on toxic smearing and dirty tricks.
How will it end up?

[Valotonin]

Does anyone know of a particularly creative way to spoil a ballot? Better than not voting, they keep a note of the apathetic.

P.S. Why do my political opinions change so rapidly and wildly? This isn't normal.

[jcnporter]

Does anyone know of a particularly creative way to spoil a ballot? Better than not voting, they keep a note of the apathetic.

P.S. Why do my political opinions change so rapidly and wildly? This isn't normal.

I don't know why you're not voting, so I don't know if this applies to you, but I hear so many people who aren't voting say 'there isn't a political party that reflects my views'
There's a couple of major problems with this -

- There will never be a political party that reflects your views exactly.

- It's a sad reflection of the increasing individualism of society. Despite what many would have you believe, democracy isn't about voting for what benefits you personally, for democracy to work you need to vote for what's best for society overall.

In modern society there's so much that we take for granted and goes unseen - healthcare, education, even having a vote in the first place.
It's easy to imagine that all of it is fixed and immutable, that it's 'the way things are', especially if it was introduced before your lifetime.
But it isn't, it can be taken away with the stroke of a pen tomorrow.
Particularly in the UK, the government are voted in by an extremely narrow demographic - mainly older people, mainly richer people.
They get to decide the future of the country because they come out to vote in overwhelming numbers.
People who don't vote don't get to decide, and don't get to change anything, it's that simple.