Are the UK electorate out of touch with reality?

Looking at the newspaper headlines reactions to yesterday's Labour Manifesto, I was horrified to see the anti-Labour bias. The Daily Mail's "Corbyn plan to bankrupt the U.K." was predictable but even The Guardian led with union leader McClusky's prediction that there will be a Tory landslide. The BBC's reaction was all about high tax too. Higher tax would only affect people earning over £80,000.
I thought it was a good Manifesto even if it couldn't all be achieved in one five year term. It wouldn't cost anything to start renationalising the railways as franchises come up for renewal. Might even make a profit for the country rather than for the fat cats.

It wasn't aimed at anyone on the forum Maizie but the country in general.
You can lament the lack of interest in
Politics but can hardly lament the fact that not everybody is intelligent, it's just a fact of life, like not being attractive, or able to play the piano etc.

I agree about the railway mostly but the other utilities would cost an absolute fortune as the government would have to buy them out.Where is that money coming from?
McClusky knows that Labour won't win, but wants to keep Corbyn in place afterwards.

Great comment Cindersdad. There is no money under the present format. If we tax the high earners, the really rich will make sure their money is safely out of the way, so the taxes will be paid by people who earn more than the level they will have to bring it down to in order to raise the sums promised (that could mean any people who do not currently earn more than £30,000 pa)and the companies who are suddenly faced with extra large tax bills will be more inclined to move to EU countries. I don't know which way to vote. TM is forceful and looks like she could do the job, but has so far not given any real indication that she can improve things. JC thinks the answer is to borrow even more money that we cannot afford to repay and tax those I mentioned above with the likely outcomes mentioned. Communism is a great leveller, but it's always levelled down for the majority (and the rich will manage to evade the levelling as usual).

Apologies to the Jaggernaut Lady who believes I am being a tad patronising, for my expression of appreciation and being honest and polite in respecting of other peoples views. Perhaps, politeness belongs to the era I grew up, Though it might help more if I knew the exact true meaning of the word " Tad ".

Re the question of what I mean by reality is sound, because it can be vague. In this content I was using it as the "true situation that exists, rather than the conflicting interpretations presented by the media and propagandists ".

Hope that helps the excellent debate, thanks also Juggernaut for giving this mere male a much better understanding and a good example of an uncalled for rather "bitchy" remark. Are they intended to help to encourage people to use these columns?
Touché

Communism is a great leveller, but it's always levelled down for the majority (and the rich will manage to evade the levelling as usual).

But we're not talking about communism here. We're talking about a left of centre proposal.

Richard Murphy comments here:

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/05/17/labours-doing-the-country-a-service/

Note:^First, this shows how far to the right politics has moved.^

He's commenting on this:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/16/the-guardian-view-on-the-labour-election-manifesto-widening-the-bounds-of-the-thinkable

Excellent comments ladies
James you need to rethink your posts. They r condescending. Please treat us grans with more respect!

Nationalisation wouldn't cost the country anything! That's a myth and it's sad to see that political journalists are so financially illiterate.

The government would issue long term bonds to investors. The interest on the bonds would be paid from profits.

Last time I looked, government bonds are paying just over 1% interest. CPI is currently 2.7%,so it makes absolute sense to renationalise now. There are asset holders, who are looking for opportunities to invest their money safely and would snap up government-backed bonds.

Professor Jonathan Portes (now at King's College London, but formerly a civil servant/economist working for HMRC and the DWP) thinks that renationalising water is a daft idea, but renationalising other utilities is absolutely the right thing to do - as do other senior economists.

If you Google Portes, he explains better than I have why renationalisation costs nothing and certainly doesn't impact on the deficit.

I think sometimes it's instinct, some politicians are just not nice they come over as caring they come out with comments that are annoying, so to say the newspaper is biased is true but the politicians are liars as well.
I can't forget what Clegg prmised to the students if they voted for him. And what happened when his party chose to go in with the conservatives he didn't help the students. When pierce Morgan interviewed him about the situation he said that's politics.
It's finding someone you can trust, and frankly I can't trust any of them.
Labour and the conservatives have been in power mostly, they have never done anything to solve knifecrime. I am a mother that is what I want to see change.

Everything in and about politics is biased. Just think about that for a moment. Nobody is going to tell us the other side are doing better. The media has always been split to left or right.

Voting means each one of us has to weigh up all the available info and make a choice. None of the political parties or politicians are wholly right; none of them always do as promised, omly in part. Generalities do exist such as labour cannot manage the economy while the tories can; but even then ity is possible to find some exceptions.

Politics is a minefield we have to negotiate.

Morgana, must be a gender issue for certainly not intended to be condescending. I asked my wife to read my comments before sending, we have nine grand kids. She said they were honest but I needed to get use to bitchy and catty comments if I used the gransnet to express males views.

As a family we often have deep frank discussions without any accusations of being condescending. Perhaps Granddads views are not very welcoming in some quarters.

Will sign off on this issue, best wishes, James

Sheilasue here crime is down by over 40% over the past few years social housing building up by more than the promised amount when SNP came t power 10 years ago ,they took away bridge tolls,froze council tax for 10 years our NHS is outperforming the NHS in the rest of the UK ,we have free dental checks ,free eye checks ,free prescription and much more there have been roads started AND completed that Labour said it would do 40 years ago and didn't all in all a reasonably good record BUT the newspapers NEVER report any of it or if they do its with the SNP BAD tag and they spin it as though its a terrible thing .Go figure that one and then you'll realise why many still voted for the unionist parties ..simply because the truth is not published .Thankfully we are (most of us) more politally aware and can see the bias ,but there are many thousands who believe all they see on TV or read in the red tops .In Shetland they even voted a Lib Dem back who admitted in court to making up a story about the first minister and then pretending it was "leaked" his excuse was ALL politicians lie .

It's interesting to hear the Tories claim that there are items in Labour's manifesto which Jeremy Corbin doesn't believe in.
Let me think....is there a leader of another political party, who now espouses a very important policy, which, less than 12 months ago, she definitely opposed?

Watching Diane Abbott on Daily Politics in a clip of her at the Police Federation conference. She treated the police like they were little children at infants school. 'Good Morning everyone. pause. Good Morning everyone.' because they didn't reply with 'Good Morning Miss Abbott'! My God I would have stood up and walked out if I had been one of them. Whatever is Mr Corbyn keeping her on for? She is absolutely useless in everything she does and to put her in charge of the police is an insult to them. Most unsuitable woman who should never have been made The Shadow Home Secretary imo.

definition of 'Tad' is: a small or insignificant amount or degree :-)

I agree with you James. I think everyone has a view and everyone else should listen whether they agree with it or not. Nothing wrong with being polite or caring imo. It is not a generation thing, my boys were brought up to be polite and caring as were their wives. If people cared a tad more then the world would be a better place I think.

Maybe you did not read my post about us all being brain washed for years? Not to worry.

I do not know about the electorate, but this woman surely is:

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4512938/Robert-Hardman-humiliation-Diane-Abbott.html

I think this election is about giving TM a mandate to govern as she was not elected by the electorate. She must feel the time is right for her to call an election, and if the Tories win then she and her government have a mandate for the Brexit negotiations from the people who will then not be able to complain about the terms and contains she and her government agree to.
It also gives her another couple of years to get a better deal.

anyone with half a brain can see the tories are destroying the country ,why would they vote tory?

Totally agree with you Yorkshiregirl. Why are there so many selfish people in this country, I expect its still to do with Thatcher and Blair . Jeremy Cornyn is decent and honest and in touch with how life should be

Here here! about Diane Abbot

Corbyn is not decent or honest

Interesting piece here on Modern Monetary Theory: transitioncitylancaster.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/we-pay-for-it-by-spending-the-money.pdf

If it works, I'd be up for it!

I don't trust any of the politicians, have spent many years voting Tory (although Green the last 5 years or so) but am going to vote LibDem this year to show them I still want to #BremainSane.

Like a lot of Labour's policies, but they always get in where I live - by a massive majority - so I reckon I'm safe to vote the way my heart dictates

I despair at people saying I am a long standing supporter of such and such a party. Obviously I will support them whatever they propose to do. Oh for the day when people will look at policies and decide which is feasible and will not bankrupt the county.

I thought, by now, people who say their family have voted this way for generations would have learnt to make their own opinions.

The most scary thing about the whole situation we find ourselves in is, as maisie said way back in the debate, the complete lack of a strong opposition. Because we haven't got this, we have instead a government that wants to be seen as 'strong and stable' but is, in actual fact, more like an extremely harsh and bullying parent who is so confident in their own 'rightness' that everyone in the family must bend to their will - because it's all for our own good. In fact, turn that whole analogy into Theresa May - to me, she's become absolutely overbearing and I no longer believe a word she says. Where oh where is the politician that can stand up and give her the good verbal pounding she deserves? She's had it all her own way for too long, and all I can see and hear in the next five years is her snarling at a brow beaten and cringing opposition. I despair! Please God she doesn't get the landslide she so arrogantly expects ......

Well grammargran you may be in for a disappointment, but she hasn't had it her own way for too long you know, not even a year as yet!