Death spiral of the Tory Party

Four men own Britain’s news media. Is that a problem for democracy?

The power of private owners has long been debated in British society, and – even after a decade of digital disruption – remains controversial.

www.newstatesman.com/business/2021/02/four-men-own-britain-s-news-media-problem-democracy

His wife's taxes aside - am I wrong to say that the US/UK tax treaty has a so-called 'savings' clause which means that Green Card holders should be paying tax in the US?

Nightsky2

varian

Nightsky2

varian

In spite of the overwhelming evidence of incompetence and corruption, the Tory party will not die as long as people still read The Daily Mail, The Express, The Telegraph and The Sun and vote as instructed.

We can all see the evidence on Gransnet.

Varian….The Telegraph and the Sun…now that is offensive. I expect someone as clever as you only read the Guardian. I’ve flicked through it on the paper stand a couple of times but have never been tempted to buy it.

Does it have good cartoons like the Matt cartoons in the Telegraph.

The point is that, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Daily Express are Al supporters if the Tory party as are most of their loyal readers.

At the time of the fraudulent referendum of 2016 newspaper readership was found to be the strongest determinant of voting patterns.

No, I am not a regular reader of The Guardian, although J sometimes look at Guardian online and MailOnline.

I prefer to get mu news from a variety of sources.

I recommend that you do the same.

Another offensive comment.

The right wing newspapers, which are all owned by tax dodging billionaires (either foreign or living in tax havens), are experts in the art of programming their readers to find offense - especially when confronted with facts.

Gransnet members are predominantly left wing luvvies who will be clutching their copies of The Gruniad to their hearts whilst reading your posts grin

... is this an updated version of "the bleeding-heart, loonie-left brigade"?

At a guess I'd say there's a lot of centrist grans on here - or those that are politically 'homeless'.

And they might well read the Gruniad - along with the Telegraph... you know, just to get a balanced view.

Holding this government to account and being critical of Johnson does not a left-winger make...

We have a history of doing this - you should take a look at some of the historical political cartoons of the 19th century - it's part of our culture. And a very healthy one, too. If / when Labour are in power, they will, rightly, come under as much scrutiny.

We pay their salaries, pay for their perks, sometimes their accommodation. Good enough reason to analyse their performance.

... that really was a daft comment.

GillT57

Gransnet members are predominantly left wing luvvies who will be clutching their copies of The Gruniad to their hearts whilst reading your posts grin

What a childish comment, if you read these threads properly, you will find that there are many unhappy Tory voters who are disgusted by where Johnson and his pals are taking this country, people with morals and standards who, unlike yourself, do not vote slavishly for a party which is making their lives and the lives of others, far worse. So, you carry on with your silly snipping, some of us care about the integrity of those who lead us, and don't believe everything the right wing non dom owned press churn out.

Generalisations such as this demonstrate more ignorance than those they are attacking. Statistics please!

Yet, listening to LBC this afternoon, several callers were full of praise for Boris. Probably this’ll make sure he increases votes in the council elections. Sadly.

There are two big issues at stake:

Firstly that of the erosion of women's rights by trans activists like Stonewall. The Conservative party is the only one to support the idea that a woman is a woman.

Secondly, asset taxes. Does an individual want to be subject to an annual tax out of income on all of their capital assets? For example, at a mere five per cent, anyone owning a house worth £500,000 would pay £25,000 extra tax a year. The Labour party, the Lib-Dems and the Greens are all in favour of asset taxes.

What they do is to create an enormous financial mess and step back so they can say that the Labour Party cannot be trusted to run the enconomy. Actually this is false. Despite austerity the Tories borrowed more money during Cameron’s and Cleg’s war on the poor than the entire borrowing of Labour governments since the war.
We’ve gone from gp appointments in two or three days to six weeks - and that haas nothing to do with Covid.

Anniebach

Blair comes under much criticism on this forum

Tony Blair ? (Bliar) - Margaret Thatcher's greatest achievement.

Hoping they will go. We can do better then this.
Andy Burnham is the one to watch, brilliant guy.

I like a bit of trouble callistemon

Galaxy

I quite fancy being a luvvie though, not sure how to go about it.

You have to air kiss everyone: Mwah, mwah, mwah and call them dahling.

Whatever you do, don't be a centrist, it gets you into trouble on GN.

Maudi

You can believe a lot of things doesn't mean that are true. Boris has had to deal with a lot since becoming PM, Brexit, Covid, worldwide recession and now the war on Ukraine.

Add to his list:
Partygate
Proroguing Parliament
Numerous u-turns
Wallpapergate
Jeni Arcuri
Owen Paterson lobbying debacle
Second Jobs for MPs
Matt Hancock
Oh the list goes on. He certainly has had a lot to deal with!

I don't expect Mr Zelenskyy would have been quite so welcoming and fulsome in his praise if the weapons and so on hadn't actually arrived.

Johnson has told us how many or how much of this and that is being sent to Ukraine. Do we have any evidence of it actually arriving? Or is it like his other promises - just lies or non truths or his imagination?

Timefor the peace-loving grannies to unite. Say what you mean and mean what you say. I’d like to knock Putin’s Biden’s and Johnson’s heads together and stop their willy-waving.
As terrible as it is, IMO the situation in Uktaine is a repeat of the US and UK war in Iraq - bombing the lives of civilians for regime change. We have no moral basis on which to feel superior.

Galaxy

I quite fancy being a luvvie though, not sure how to go about it.

well it is quite easy on GN apparently. All you have to do is not slavishly support everything that Johnson does, maybe show a bit of concern for your fellow man, read a book or two, possibly follow a vegetarian or even better, a vegan diet, and voila! You are a leftie, then can graduate to a leftie luvvie.

I quite fancy being a luvvie though, not sure how to go about it.

Agree. A childish comment. “Left wing luvvies”. Pathetic.

I think you’d find a lot are centrists in fact.

I am centre left and find the guardian frequently tiresome, I associate the word luvvie with the theatre, so not sure how I fit into that range of stereotypes.

Maudi

You can believe a lot of things doesn't mean that are true. Boris has had to deal with a lot since becoming PM, Brexit, Covid, worldwide recession and now the war on Ukraine.

I agree, he has had a lot to deal with, probably more than he expected when he saw the way the wind was blowing and decided that he was a Brexiteer; the job is a lot harder than the lazy liar thought it would be, that's for sure. However, world wide recession, Covid, Ukraine, P&O ferries disputes.....these all affect France too, and Macron is managing to not only run an election campaign, but keep the ports open. Can you see what is missing here? Apart from integrity of course? Brexit, that good idea you had in June 2016, going well isn't it.

Gransnet members are predominantly left wing luvvies who will be clutching their copies of The Gruniad to their hearts whilst reading your posts grin

What a childish comment, if you read these threads properly, you will find that there are many unhappy Tory voters who are disgusted by where Johnson and his pals are taking this country, people with morals and standards who, unlike yourself, do not vote slavishly for a party which is making their lives and the lives of others, far worse. So, you carry on with your silly snipping, some of us care about the integrity of those who lead us, and don't believe everything the right wing non dom owned press churn out.

silvercollie

WWM
Ah, the Guardian - fountain of all knowledge!

Have you tried reading it? I get far more information from it on line than I do from reading the red tops on line.

You can believe a lot of things doesn't mean that are true. Boris has had to deal with a lot since becoming PM, Brexit, Covid, worldwide recession and now the war on Ukraine.

I have always believed that Michael Foot’s donkey jacket, with or without Michael Foot, would make a better Prime Minister than Boris.