Is he a bot or merely incapable of thinking for himself?

Oreo

That being the case DaisyAnneReturns which doesn’t surprise me at all, there will be many Conservative GN members who are influenced in their views by what left wing posters on this site say and come away with a very negative opinion of them sadly.

You dont have to be of the opposite party to have your views influence by the extreme left on here or out in public Oreo. As a centrist, I have no time for any extreme and extremes can belong or have allegiance to any party, Conservative, Labour, Green, etc.,

More is bound to be said about the group of pseudo wild west ruffians we currently marching under the Tory flag a) because they are in power and b) because they have moved so far to the right, beating up those unable to defend themselves on the way for 13 years.

Journalists have said that the question that will decide the next election will be "has your life being better under the Conservative government". If the Conservatives turn this round and tell us "your life has been better in the 13 years under this Conservative party", I can imagine people bursting into tears.

Casdon

Whatever your political persuasion you have to be pretty robust and knowledgeable to post on politics threads because you’re going to get challenged - but I find it hard to believe that Tory posters are less robust than Labour posters - why would that be the case? My observation is that people on the political threads don’t agree with each other over a topic just because they are a Labour or a Tory voter, it’s much more nuanced than that - in fact I don’t think very many people at all are what I’d call left Labour, and those that are have to fight their corner hard against the more moderate amongst us too. It’s like a mini House of Commons.

I think you are right Casdon, whichever side you are talking about, you do have to be prepared to defend what you are suggesting is the way the country should be run. That affects others.

Doodledog, Someone said on another thread that they took a middle view (of a totally different topic), and I think my view of that applies here too. We mostly do see ourselves as in the centre, think that our views are reasonable, and that anyone to either side of them is straying from that. In this case to the Left or the Right, but in other discussions it might be rich/poor, or lax/fastidious when it comes to housework or fashion.

Agreed

I see myself as reasonably near centre. Others may disagree.

Germanshepherdsmum

No Maizie, I won’t name people even by username. That would be wrong. I don’t lie. People have left because of the bullying behaviour of Labour supporters. It’s sad that you don’t seem to notice their absence. There should be room for polite and respectful debate but sadly there isn’t. It’s rather like a school playground.

Casdon, Conservative posters are no less robust than others but the overwhelming majority here are left-leaning and some take advantage of that majority to bully others, to be rude and to insult. Some can cope with that, some can’t. Everyone here is a person with feelings. There is no Speaker to deal with those who cross the line, unlike the HoC.

It would be interesting to have a poll GSM. Personally, I don't think there are more to the left. I do feel there are more far-right than far-left posting. But I doubt we will ever know.

I'm just intrigued by how posters 'know' that people have left Gnet because of bullying on the N & P threads. Do they PM everyone else to say why they've gone?

Yes, there are people who posted who have disappeared, but I've always assumed that people just come and go; perhaps get bored or find other interests, post on other forums, or , given our demographic, just die.

Nor can I see why asking for usernames results in a sharp intake of breath and pearl clutching. Posters are usually quite happy to talk about other absentees...

Oh well...

I'd have considered myself moderate before gransnet (compared to many views I come across in my age range and younger) but am considered far left here weirdly.

Usually if I'm discussing something I have at least 10 people giving me a hard time. Not really sure how I could bully a large group... Maybe I'm on the wrong threads to see this

Back to the OP. Did any one else get the impression that Sunak is running out of any will to be at PMQs today?

No.

GNHQ usually takes a dim view if absent posters are discussed.

It's not fair to name posters including the reasons why they may have left, they could still be reading but not posting and it's akin to talking about people behind their backs.

Very true, I’m sure many of us know who they are but it wouldn’t be right to name them. Some of us are in touch with people who no longer post and know why that is.

Those GNetters who seem to have left may just be having a break and doing other things.

I have been on GN almost from the start and have been a very active poster at times and not at other times.

Why should anyone assume that a poster who has been absent for a while has gone off in a fit of pique because of "bullying" (whatever that means online) ?

No, not a fit of pique, some have been very upset by the bullying that does go on.

Some do come back, I'm sure, but may have changed their usernames.

Those who decide to leave often tell others why they have made that decision. A sad loss, and entirely unnecessary.

Its true that people leave or don’t post if their perception is that they are being bullied, I’m also in touch with people who have been in that situation, although not on Politics threads, it often happens on the most innocuous threads.
However I’m not sure why anybody would post on Politics threads and expect to not have any comeback - it’s what people are most opinionated about, after all. I think personal insult is unacceptable, but other than that a robust discussion with challenge, wit, sarcasm, implication etc etc is exactly what you’d expect surely, it’s not the Women’s Institute thread after all. I’d love to see more posters of all political persuasions dip their toes in and get stuck into what is often an intellectually challenging and informative debate.