Why the reluctance to answer questions and face the real electorate ?

Tony Benn had a longstanding condition which he managed well.

Could it be that Theresa Maybis following the advice of her key strategists and Lynton Crosby?
Her campaign has been dire. I'm reluctant to blame her health because I'm one of many who enjoyed a long and I hope productive working life at the same time as managing chronic health problems. I suspect she's feeling highly anxious and possibly depressed. She called this election when she was twenty points ahead and seemed set for a landslide. It's gone horribly wrong. It's late in the day to change her strategy but how else can she reassure the electorate and her party that she can thin and respond effectively, on her feet. So far, we haven't seen any indication of that. id have expected anyone in politics to have greater ability than simply to deliver a decent pre written speech. I'm not a Tory but until this election campaign id felt she looked like the prime minister, much as I disliked her governments policies.
Jeremy Corbyn is having a good campaign, his manifesto seems more popular than hers. His straightforward, meet and talk campaign is gong well
Who'd have predicted it? TM looks increasingly uncomfortable and she needs some better advice as well as to talk to ordinary voters

If she looked unwell the other day it could be because of all kinds of reasons - tiredness, a bug, anything. None of us are on top form all the time; perhaps JC has just been lucky that he has not succumbed to whatever is going round.
Perhaps his jam has hidden properties.

Any one rember Billy Graham , an example of an enigmatic person who attracted the devotion of multitudes of people?! But delivered nothing except dissalutionment , I think Mr Corbyn falls into that category

norose he couldn't be more different.

'severe'! Can you have 'severe' diabetes?

And she appears to believe in democracy

I'm afraid that is the sticking point for many people. Yes, she appears to believe in 'democracy' in a 'the will of the people'sort of way but an essential plank of our 'democracy' is that it is a representative democracy which is expressed through Parliament. And she has not, so far, appeared to believe in that. She has done her best to bypass parliament or to curtail its powers and her proposal to use 'Henry VIII' powers in respect of amending EU based legislation is just an extension of her dealings with Parliament so far. It demonstrates, at worst, a desire to establish a dictatorship or, at best, a contempt for, or lack of understanding of, how a representative, Parliamentary, democracy should work.

She is known to be controlling and unable to deal with dissent. I feel that her unwillingness to engage in open debate stems from an inability to argue her case because she has had very little practice in doing so.

She's on BBC "Leaders Debate" just now and has squirmed and struggled to justify this government's lack of expenditure on NHS and mental health. She is being asked questions but not being challenged on her replies.

I shouldn't worry about her age whitewave. According to my mother May is too young to know what we need

My biggest worry was brought out when she and Amber Rudd where laughed at. Look at our record - people did and burst out laughing. She has no idea how other people live and what her government - which has been in power for 7 years let us remember - has done to so many people.

gg

I am not watching the debate as I can't bear it. I record it and whizz through.

I missed May and Rudd appearing at an interview together

Maizie spot on - the very idea she believes in democracy is risible - she called a bloody unnecessary election against the Fixed Term Parliament Act and her reason was because there was parliamentary opposition to Brexit ( which was a lie anyway- she got A50 through with no problems). She has gambled with the future of this country and for what - just supposing, just supposing there were a hung parliament with Breixit negotiations to start in days? What an absolutely irresponsible act in calling this election - how arrogant, how stupid - a so called leader who believes in democracy who listens only to Fiona, Nick and Lynton??? I've read some stupid posts on GN but one saying she believes in democracy takes the proverbial MN biscuit. History will never forgive DC for calling the referendum and it could be that she will not be forgiven for calling this election. Both did it for party (and the personal) above and before country. All these weeks of campaigning and all that effort which could have gone into not only trying to come up with a Brexit strategy but could also have started trying to address the huge problems facing social care, education, housing and health. And don't feed me that lie that a good Brexit deal will lead to economic prosperity which in turn will solve all those problems in the long run. As Keynes said 'in the long run we are all dead'

That post certainly speaks for me Rigby.

Absolutely spot on Rigby46

I agree, Rigby.

Diabetes becomes more severe the older you get.

I know dj but Miss Pedant finds it amusing.

Hope you enjoyed your evening

Yes, thanks, whitewave.

No type 1 diabetics there, although I was married to one for 45 years.

Diabetes affects the whole endocrine system. Stress and anxiety increase the production of adrenaline and cortisol, which cause blood sugar levels to rise. T1 diabetics can compensate by injecting more insulin, but miscalculations can lead to hypos. I don't suppose TM is able to follow a rigid diet, which will almost certainly cause her problems.

I'm not sure that T1 diabetes does get worse with age, but the side effects certainly accumulate.

In any case, this is speculation. Whatever the reason for TM avoiding interviews and ducking direct question, it's not acceptable, especially for somebody who called the election in the first place and tried to appear "strong and stable".

Did anyone see the qt?

No ww I thought I'd buy the DM, DE, DT, S and T tomorrow morning. Coupled with Nick on the Today programme, I thought that way I should get a nice measured balanced account of what transpired.

I was out tonight so missed Question Time. However the telly was on when I got back and they were saying on Newsnight that May was amazing and had won hands down. BBC bias again [?]. Seems people in this country are now more worried about our leader not starting a nuclear war than the thought of nurses being poorly paid/schools not being able to afford books etc etc. As with leaving the EU which, to my knowledge no one seemed particularly interested in until Cameron decided they did, we have now been persuaded that the thing we most need to worry about is having a leader who doesn't want to instigate the end of the world as we know it. But we don't need that anyway because Theresa May's 'bestie'Trump will probably do it for us anyway....[sigh]. Headline news tomorrow in The Sun will probably be 'Corbyn will not press the nuclear button so we're all going to die'.

Tegan

Headline news tomorrow in The Sun will probably be 'Corbyn will not press the nuclear button so we're all going to die'

x a million

Headline news tomorrow in The Sun will probably be 'Corbyn will not press the nuclear button so we're all going to die'

Call me naive if you like, but I'd always thought that if the nuclear button was pressed we were all going to die..

horribly...

I watched QT last night and this is just a reflection on what I recall. I thought Corbyn sounded like a man who believed what he was saying. You don't have to agree with him, but he was at least spontaneous in his responses.

Although TM did at least attend and did her best to be upbeat, she gave weak answers to heartfelt questions from ordinary people, although she seemed genuinely moved by the emotional contribution by the young woman who was partially blind, and had a bad experience at a fit-for- work interview. However she responded to a nurse who said her wages had been falling for 8 years with, "We don't have a magic money tree". We don't have enough nurses either.

Dimbleby allowed far too much time to several nuclear questions fired at Corbyn, in particular a man getting all red faced and angry about Iran and North Korea, which led to a young girl wondering why some people are so obsessed with mass murder. Frankly I would want someone for PM who would pursue more peaceful relationships with other countries. Brexit is enough to cope with without making the prospect of nuclear war a sticking point.

It seems TM was unaware that North Korea had received aid from the UK.

Just reflecting...

I noticed it was men of a certain age that were interested in killing the worlds population the most.

The young and women were more interested in education, health and the basics that make life worth while.