This video says about itself:
Hung Parliament a Stunning Victory for Corbyn‘s Labour Party in UK Elections
9 June 2017
Election produces a breakthrough for left socialist Jeremy Corbyn, something which only weeks ago was considered impossible – with Thomas Barlow and Kam Sandhu of Real Media and Aaron Bastani of Novara Media.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR UK PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY FOLLOWING DISASTROUS ELECTION UPSET May’s calls for a snap election have backfired, with her party losing its parliamentary majority. Here’s what you need to know about a hung Parliament, and what’s next for the British political system and its prime minister. May has indicated she does not plan to resign, and Brexit may even be in jeopardy following these results. And follow along for more live updates here. [HuffPost]
I don’t care if he didn’t actually win — he won. Jeremy Corbyn has given us a blueprint to follow for years to come: here.
Despite Theresa May‘s repeated denials 75% of the public believe there is a link between terrorism and military intervention: here.
A London attacker and UK covert operations in Syria and Libya: here.
Saudi Arabia Lavishes Conservative U.K. Officials With Gifts, Travel, And Plum Consultancies: here.
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Friday 1st September 2017
posted by Morning Star in Features
During the run-up to the June election, the press concocted fanciful stories of crushing Tory incursions into the Labour heartlands but events proved just how mendacious they were, says SOLOMON HUGHES
THE INVENTION of the tank as a weapon of war was quickly followed by the invention of the fake tank.
That happened at the time when the first world war was bogged down in the trenches and it looked like both sides could lose. But the tank broke through the barbed wire and machine guns that pinned soldiers down.
Manoeuvrable and destructive but not too vulnerable, the tank remains a key weapon, so much so that pretend tanks also quickly became important. They could convince the enemy you had more of these fearsome weapons or get him to misdirect his fire away from your actual forces.
Real tanks were made of steel and moved along tracks powered by engines. In the first world war, fake tanks were made of wood and cloth and drawn by horses.
By the second world war, more dummy or “spoof” tanks were created, some of wood and some of inflatable rubber — basically fake plastic tanks. They remain a modern weapon of war.
Spotting a fake tank means you can understand where your enemy has a weakness, especially one that they want to cover up.
But much of our press couldn’t spot a fake rubber tank if it blew away in the wind.
For two years, the media talked about Theresa May “parking her tanks on Labour’s lawn.” The image is of a coup, of driving into hostile territory with menacing power and last May Sky’s Faisal Islam wrote about “Conservative tanks on Labour’s lawn” as “ May visits Bristol East.” A month or so later, Labour held the seat with a 21.5 per cent increase in votes.
The theme of May’s tanks supposedly driving into Labour territory was picked up by the Mirror in June, which stated: “Wales has normally been a heartland for Labour but Theresa May has parked her tanks on Corbyn’s lawn — with one visit to Bridgend already ahead of election day on June 8.”
The Times agreed, saying that May was “planting her tanks firmly on Jeremy Corbyn’s lawn.”
In Bridgend, Labour held the seat with a 13.6 per cent increase in their vote.
Underlying May’s imaginary tank advance into Labour’s geographic territory was a supposed drive into Labour’s ideological territory.
In April this year, a Sunday Times headline read: “May parks tanks on Labour’s lawn.” Political editor Tim “Shippers” Shipman explained: “Senior ministers say May will also out- flank Jeremy Corbyn with reforms to workers’ rights to protect them against rogue bosses.”
As well as workers’ rights, there would be “£100 off energy bills in manifesto for workers.” All told, “the policy is a centre-piece of a manifesto that will set out a bold social vision for Britain that parks Tory tanks on terrain usually occupied by Labour.”
The Express agreed. Their editorial said May’s manifesto “set out a bold social vision for Britain that will park Tory tanks firmly on Labour’s front lawn.”
These tanks have been on manoeuvres in the papers for ages. Back in May last year, a Times editorial claimed that May was “ blue rinse, red tinge.” Her “promise of new workers’ rights” showed that “Mrs May’s desire to score a political win by parking her tanks on Labour’s lawn is understandable.”
A year earlier, a Guardian editorial worried about “Blue-collar Conservatism: Tory tanks on Labour’s lawn.”
Ever since then the papers have been talking about May’s “audacious political land grab” (The Sun) on Labour political territory
But the land was not grabbed. The tanks were made of cheap cloth and wood.
May promised to put workers’ representatives on company boards. The actual proposal is that any existing director can be appointed. Lord Moneybags can be the workers’ rep — without asking the workers.
The so-called protection of gig economy workers fizzled out in a hobbled inquiry. The right to time off for workers to look after sick relatives turned out to be a right to ask for time off. Without pay. And employers could say no. The cap on energy prices was abandoned.
Arguably, the voters understood that these were spoof tanks — May did not drive into blue collar votes. So why did so much of the press get it so wrong?
A few journalists easily spotted the fakeness of May’s tanks. The Independent picked apart the proposals. The Editor of City AM reassured his business readers that the tanks weren’t scary because “this is more about politics than policy.” It wasn’t hard to see that a Tory party so reliant on big business funding wasn’t serious and the proposals didn’t stand close inspection.
But why did so many journalists take them seriously? Partly because they wanted to believe the Tories.
It might have been obvious to voters that May’s tanks were fake. But commentators in the Tory press are paid to be Tory-friendly and, as Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
But the failure goes further. I suspect many journalists were willingly duped because they are so used to operating only at the level of rhetoric, not reality. May took “positions” to appeal to “traditional” Labour voters.
But the press didn’t really look hard at whether these were actually deliverable. They are operating only at the level of symbols.
Many voters are in real trouble — they need £100 off a power bill or to be able to rely on regular hours or see a pay rise. So they took a more realistic look and assumed that after years of real pain under Conservative austerity, a few Tory symbolic gestures were unlikely to mean much.
But we have a generation of press, think-tank and political pundits who grew up under the New Labour years.
Before the financial crash, Labour’s reliance on spin and empty positioning was smoothed over by some substantial spending. There is much less easy cash in government, so empty “positions” that don’t deliver actual redistribution ring hollow.
However, our press and political pundits don’t want to adjust to the newer, harsher truth. They were financially comfortable when much of the change was just symbolic.
They are comfortable now. And if that means they can’t tell the difference between a real tank and a fake plastic one, never mind.
There is a lesson here for Labour. Much of the press don’t easily distinguish between a fake and a real policy. But a Labour government has to move beyond empty symbolism and into the tougher battle of redistribution, regulation and reform.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e697-No-tanks-for-fake-news#.Wapz8cZpwdU
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