"we'll change the things that need changing and that's all we'll change": the paSUKification of post-brexit politics 2021

Once you start banking on demographic changes to help you out you're in trouble, that's a watched kettle right there.

Especially when those demographic changes point to Labour voters concentrating in fewer and fewer seats as the age profile increases in the rest, to the advantage of the Tories

Are over 60s more important than they were electorally 15/20 years ago?

There's more of them?

The flipside of this is that if the levelling up agenda actually works (gigantic if) then the increased investment will change the demographics of a lot of these seats almost by necessity and that won't necessarily benefit the Tories in the long run. There are signs that's already happening in the South of England as people move out of London.

There's more of them?

Yes I think thats largely true (and in some seats drastically so) - which I think makes at least the next two elections a lock for the Conservatives. The question is what happens after that, particularly if that demographic change continues to solidify.

If Labour lost these (now important) voters of 2020 back in the 90s and 00s, then the voters of 2036 and 2040 could be being won and lost today in the same way

Corbyn is sick of Starmer’s shit.

"I think it's a bit rich to start blaming me for stuff that's been done over the past year that I've had absolutely no part of whatsoever," said Mr Corbyn.

"I do think that dumping on somebody because they're not there anymore is a bit weak.

"Do I take responsibility for it? No."

KING

I was waiting for this to happen and he needed to start kicking back against the Long Corbyn slurs, even though nobody really believes it.

when magic grandpa calls you weak it’s time to hang up the spurs, pardner

innit!

If u bring spurs into it matt will be off again

Starmzy and Corbyn famously both Arsenal fans ofc

I've never believed Starmer is really an Arsenal fan. Whereas I wouldn't be surprised if Jez could name the entire squad on the day they won their first league title under Herbert Chapman.

tbh I don't even see Starmer as a sentient being, he's some kind of mollusc

Not convinced Corbz is really an Arsenal fan either but Arsenal fans are a pretty unconvincing lot in general.

This article, from before he was elected, mentions the season ticket.

I could imagine Corbz being as geeky with football club history as he is with his cast iron manhole cover collection

One of his sons is a youth coach (Watford?) but i think he himself is strictly casual.

He did once join forces with Hector Bellerin to deliver a devastating snub to P*ers M*rgan so there's that

I too hate Purs Menguin

Tony Blair claims 1935, 1983 and 2019 the worst defeats Labour has ever had, and all the fault of the far left. 1935 was easily the highest vote share of the interwar period, and better than 2005. Again in terms of vote share, 2019 was not the worst. He didn't mention 2017. https://t.co/azj0sKQ35k

— David Edgerton (@DEHEdgerton) May 12, 2021

prof D schooling the wicked liars on Labour history again

MoreLikeTonyBliarAmIRight?

Not convinced Corbz is really an Arsenal fan either but Arsenal fans are a pretty unconvincing lot in general.

― Are Animated Dads Getting Hotter? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 12 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Arsenal fans are the most alienated, i.e. the most Marxist. It's ok if you all can't see it.

lots of the melts say vote share doesn't matter in a FPTP system actshully, well it might not in single elections but if you can build on solid defeats rather than alienating vast swathes of your previous voters that could be a winning formula in the end.

"But I think there's the feeling that Labour had done too much agreeing with the government when many people's experience of Covid is one of fear. We ended up being seen as a party that basically agreed with the whole government strategy."

Imagine what we could've done with this level of clarity when the government was fucking it up. Such a shame Corbyn had to apologise for the EU to pricks in the last couple of years of his leadership.

The only route to peace of mind and avoiding murderous rage is to avoid as much as you can of everything these monsters say ime

Love her.

When Tony Blair rails against the “woke left” in his @NewStatesman article, he means young people.

Our generation won't put up with injustice. We demand deep, fundamental change - for the working class in all our diversity.

Whether he likes it or not, we're the future.

— Nadia Whittome MP (@NadiaWhittomeMP) May 12, 2021

All this and we haven’t even mentioned Wings packing it in

Nadia another one of the handful of stars I feel increasing admiration/sadness for, for persevering in their scum party

All of the details about this that I’ve read are endlessly depressing.

Mike Hill tribunal: Blackburn MP, Kate Hollern, has resigned from her position on Sir Keir Starmer's front bench.

It follows claims she tried to "isolate" a parliamentary worker who claimed former Hartlepool MP Mike Hill sexually harrassed her. https://t.co/7JiMZTQf9h

— ITV News Tyne Tees (@itvtynetees) May 12, 2021

All this and we haven’t even mentioned Wings packing it in

― Scamp Granada (gyac), Wednesday, May 12, 2021 1:21 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

hard to believe he's going to bother his arse getting a job. would not be surprised if he was back soon with a fundraiser

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1Mz64SWQAEob66?format=jpg&name=900x900

check out the 2021 big thought leaders of the UK meltocracy endorsing the Dunty book, I'd top myself after 5 minutes if I was stuck in a broken lift with them.

I find it quite amusing that in the lexicon of modern shitposting that even if Big Dunty had hair he'd be derided as "spiritually bald"

hah hah I missed the most important bit of that screengrab. Dunty's publisher liked the post at the bottom.

My university fired a Holocaust denier on staff and then amongst other things hosted an important, inclusive event to signal solidarity with Jewish members of our community. I'm proud of that. Apparently the Universities Minister thinks we should have kept the guy on? Get fucked.

— dr matt lodder (@mattlodder) May 12, 2021

Michele Donelan says holocaust deniers are fine "as long as they aren't racist"

just wanna register my bogglement at alistair campbell on breakfast tv interviewing his old boss that he did war crimes with

our country continues to reach previously undreamed-of levels of normalness day after day

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1QjaFWXoAAVd0C?format=png&name=large

Interesting new research indicates that the Greens could be a leadership change away from becoming a proper third party. (Although it would blatantly frame him as the Chuka of the left, If I were Clive Lewis I think I would jump ship)

49% of respondents say that the Con party, which has been in power for 11 years, represents change for the better.

What a moment for right wing comedy

"Without AstraZenneca, I wouldn't have had two jabs… thank God for pharmaceutical companies", says comedian Matt Forde

Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti would rather listen to Biden and the Pope over vaccines "not just side with big pharma"#politicslive https://t.co/HVhtO8fxV7 pic.twitter.com/sOwc6kegk2

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) May 13, 2021

Anti-deportation protest on Kenmure Street in Pollokshields. Immigration van is ringed by police and protesters. “These are our neighbours. Let them go.” pic.twitter.com/0xYhXw1XxX

— Catriona Stewart (@LadyCatHT) May 13, 2021

I used to live there!

xxp

I dunno, inviting only two right wing "comedians" to comment a politics show might not be quite overkill yet

49% of respondents say that the Con party, which has been in power for 11 years, represents change for the better.

― the pinefox,

This is unfair. They've been constrained by the EU for 10 of those 11 years. A corrupt and restrictive status quo Labour would have us subordinate ourselves too again, given half a chance. They've worked tirelessly to free us from those shackles, but the job is only just beginning. It may not all be plain sailing, but for the first time in living memory, there is hope on the horizon

Hmmm

The letter from the Prime Minister to the Ballymurphy families. Their verdict: not worth the paper it’s written on. @bbcnewsline @bbcnewsni pic.twitter.com/qILvLmhuFK

— Catherine Morrison (@CackyMo) May 13, 2021

No surrender, eh Boris?

what is it about Shami Chakrabarti that draws so much hatred from right-wing comedians and Andrew Marr?

This week, the bereaved families of Ballymurphy were vindicated after their 50-year struggle for justice.

Today in Parliament, I extended my condolences and asked the Government if there will ever be prosecutions for the unjustified killings #BallymurphyMassacre pic.twitter.com/BGDC4wQont

— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) May 13, 2021

a non-white woman with a forrin name daring to comment on our political system does tend to bring all of the cunts out of the woodwork

Also, this is great news (re covid spike in the north west):

Looks a bit like the Blackburn Director of Public Health, who is brilliant, has just said "we're doing this" and allowing govt to catch up https://t.co/62XSJfMGNm More power to his elbow.

— Paul Cotterill (@Bickerrecord) May 13, 2021

In the latest weekly figures, the town recorded the third highest infection rate in England, with an 89% jump in cases compared to the previous week.
As with other areas, mass testing is due to be deployed in hotspots, and there are early indications health teams will be stepping up the vaccination rollout.

However, it's worth noting that although the new variant is thought to spread as easily as previous ones, there's no evidence to suggest it causes more serious illness.

Hospital admissions do not seem to have increased in line with cases, and the area hasn't seen a death with coronavirus for the past six weeks.

David Cameron says a new body to help ex-PM's navigate life post No 10 could be helpful - esp. for a "younger one" who doesn't just want to sit on the board of a bank and make the occasional speech, but, instead, "wants to get stuck in" and "help a business expand".

— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) May 13, 2021

pig joke