What I think will happen tomorrow

Coming from a left wing working class background it is my belief that the Labour party have lost sight of their roots. When I speak to people they tell me they want politicians to take notice of them and not spend all their time listening to the London "elite".

I also dislike the term "working class" - as my father used to say if someone has to work for a living they are working class -no matter what their job or salary. He felt it was a term used to keep people in "their place" and kill ambition.

Agree, the LP needs to appeal more broadly to working people. I’ve no issue with the support shown at that time for BLM. I agree the focus on lgbt, trans etc etc can alienate. Look at the disagreements on gransnet about trans issues for eg

No, with you on it not being the main factor Whitewave. It seems they have gleened the "leave" votes. Now it will be interesting to see what they can do with that. They have also, and perversely seem to have captured a "time for a change" group. Weird ... I think so.

The working class vote went for Blair, 3 general election wins,

galaxy that is true I think, but it is not the main factor as ug suggests.

The reason that the w/c vote has gone to the Tories is as a result of an accumulation of neglect and being taken for granted since the Thatcher era.

These things don’t happen over night.

You have a point Galaxy. Noticably Biden is softening all the "me too" and historical wickedness chatter. Still acknowledging it but definitely not screaming about it.

I'm okay with that as long as they continue to do something about it.

With you Galaxy

I think there is something in that actually as difficult as that might be. So if you are in Hartlepool working 50 hours a week and still living in poverty, watching footballers earning 50 000 a week telling you to take the knee might be difficult to swallow. You focus on the things that are important to people jobs housing crime etc and then you get elected. Then you can do what you like in terms of equality, so Blair did not get elected on a campaign of lgb rights for example but did more for
equality in that area than the current labour party. I say this as a supporter of Starmer.

Urmstongran

I honestly and truly believe that when Keir Starmer took the knee that was the beginning of the end for him with Red Wall voters.

Why

If taking the knee upset some people, their bad. Starmer’ s track record on equality is second to none.

Starmer has been party leader for 14 months

I honestly and truly believe that when Keir Starmer took the knee that was the beginning of the end for him with Red Wall voters.

Not a surprise, Starmer has not convinced Labour voters he is any good, Boris has been successful with the Covid vaccination programme.
As the pandemic recedes we will see what happens, current growth predictions are optimistic, although it’s not hard to be better than last year.

Urmstongran was correct in her prediction for Hartlepool.

Do people know about the labour councils history in Sunderland in recent years. I am sad for the implications for the country of a Tory majority but bugger me labour deserve a trouncing in Sunderland.

growstuff

Labour supporters ... enjoy! Ooh! These results might end up being interesting after all!

Ooops! That didn't last long.

Britain Elects

Fulwell (Sunderland) council result:

Con: 42.4% (-3.0)
LDem: 36.5% (+32.2)
Lab: 16.9% (-16.6)
Grn: 4.2% (+0.6)

Con HOLD
[Corrected - apologies!]

That sounds more like I expected. Strong result from the LibDems though.

GrannyGravy13

Flip knows where I fit in then?

Got into Grammar School with one of the highest scores in my cohort, left school at 16 after 0-levels due to family financial issues?

Intelligence and the ability to pass exams are not the same thing (maybe a topic for a separate thread?)

I haven't claimed otherwise.

All I have done is state the fact that people without a degree tended to vote Leave. That's a fact. How people interpret that is up to them. What irritates me is that people jump to ridiculous conclusions and become defensive about facts.

There's actually a much more simple explanation, which has nothing to do with education level or intelligence, which is that older people tended to vote Leave. Older people are less likely to have degrees than younger ones and are less likely to have an international outlook and more likely to be nostalgic for a time when the UK was more important on the world stage. They are more likely to be home-owners and be financially secure. All of these have been shown in numerous surveys. It doesn't mean that all fit the stereotype, but they are true at population level.

Labour supporters ... enjoy! Ooh! These results might end up being interesting after all!

lemongrove full results will be later in some areas this year because of Covid restrictions. Police and crime commissioners don’t start the count until Monday.

Whitewavemark2

Hope you have a better night tonight gg13 ?

I do hope so, as we have The Imp from 8.30am tomorrow, 16months old we adore him but he is very busy

GrannyGravy13

Flip knows where I fit in then?

Got into Grammar School with one of the highest scores in my cohort, left school at 16 after 0-levels due to family financial issues?

Intelligence and the ability to pass exams are not the same thing (maybe a topic for a separate thread?)

Definately worth a dedicated thread GrannyGravey13

I have a degree, thanks to my ability (at the time) to pass exams - a near photographic memory in those days helped. I am not particularly intelligent though - maybe just a bit above average.

Some of the most intelligent and most widely read people that I've known in my life did not do well out of the formal education system, and do not have O'Levels, never mind degrees.

We haven’t got an ology between us. In fact I had to leave school before I was 15 due to family circumstances but we retired when OH was 55 and I was 58 ( 75) now.
We live a very comfortable life style so I assume we can’t be that stupid ?

Hope you have a better night tonight gg13 ?

Flip knows where I fit in then?

Got into Grammar School with one of the highest scores in my cohort, left school at 16 after 0-levels due to family financial issues?

Intelligence and the ability to pass exams are not the same thing (maybe a topic for a separate thread?)

Victim mentality?