The 2017 UK General Election Thread - Voting open today from 7am - 10pm

[Errkal]

I think they were very very influential around Brexit, but I think they have gone OTT on their Corbyn bashing that it is now making the "normal" person thing twice about what they see as it is now so obviously other top and bollocks.

[KK]

A couple of million may now read the physical newspaper, but millions more will read the extremely popular websites, through Facebook and Apple News.

[Moggy]

I think they were very very influential around Brexit, but I think they have gone OTT on their Corbyn bashing that it is now making the "normal" person thing twice about what they see as it is now so obviously other top and bollocks.

Social media suggests both things. There seems to be a huge surge in support for Labour while there also seems to be an increase in “Corbyn supports terrorism!” posts.

It’s hard to judge how much impact the newspapers still have. But The Sun and The Daily Mail still have large readerships who will be influenced plus just having those headlines on display in newsagents will have an effect.

[Hypes]

I'm debating whether or not to bother posting anything on Facebook, but I've written something regardless!

Afternoon chaps. Tomorrow is a general election in the UK, and it provides you with a chance to choose to continue along this austerity-driven, inequality-creating, reckless self-interested path that the Conservative party are taking us, or to try a different approach that looks to improve the lives of ordinary people…
If you appreciate free healthcare, and want a functioning NHS that won’t be sold off to the private sector, please vote Labour.
If you commute and are fed up of rising ticket prices, with profits being sent to shareholders, and no investment back into the railways, please vote Labour.
If you would like to see more police on the streets, reversing cuts and restoring the visible community ‘bobby’, please vote Labour.
If you work in the public sector, or you feel that Doctors, Social Workers, Nurses, Librarians, Firefighters, Teachers, Council Workers, Police Officers deserve a pay rise after seven years of real-terms pay cuts, please vote Labour.
If you earn the minimum wage and would like a real living wage that doesn’t just allow you to barely scrape by, helped by ending the undercutting of pay caused by the exploitation of migrant workers, please vote Labour.
If you own a business, and would like customers and your employees to have more disposable income to spend on the services and products you offer, and would like big businesses to, like you do, pay their fair share of tax, please vote Labour.
If you own a house and don’t want to risk it being taken away should you get ill in your old age, please vote Labour.
If you can’t afford a home, and would like to see more homes, including council houses, being built to help improve your chances of owning a home, as well as rent controls and secure tenancies for renters, please vote Labour.
If you have children, who are stuck in schools with rising class sizes, stressed and over-stretched teachers, and would like class sizes, monitoring and bureaucracy for teachers reduced, please vote Labour.
If you think that a free school meal is a better option than 6.8p per child per breakfast, please vote Labour.
If you have children who wish to go to university and you don’t wish them to be saddled with debt, please vote Labour.
If you’re a billionaire newspaper owner and have a rare moment of compassion, please vote Labour.
If you think that in 2017 people shouldn’t have to rely on foodbanks in order to be able to eat, please vote Labour.
If you are against rising energy prices and would like more clean, renewable energy to help combat climate change, please vote Labour.
If you are against continuing aggressive wars of intervention, and wish to see more effective conflict resolution through the United Nations, please vote Labour.
If you would like a better, fairer, more equal society for everyone, please vote Labour.
Please go and cast your vote tomorrow. If you can’t be bothered because you feel it won’t affect you, or it’s raining a bit, it does affect you, and millions of people around the world would love to get slightly damp for the opportunity to be able to vote.

[Errkal]

Go for it, I'm tempted to pilfer that and post it myself

[Buffalo]

Some of these are awfully long.

[That]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

[Tafdolphin]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

Just done it on your behalf.

Two "strawberry float off"s and one "Labour twat."

[OrangeRKN]

That vice article is horrendously biased

Well we can't be having biased article now can we?

I'm not sure of the point you're making (Tu quoque perhaps?), those papers are also horrendously biased.

[That]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

Just done it on your behalf.

Two "strawberry float off"s and one "Labour twat."

Wow, really? That's, err, really something.

[Moggy]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

I agree. People don’t like being preached to unsolicited, posting long winded political rants is not going to encourage anybody to vote for a certain party.

Encourage people to vote without being preachy. And if they say they are voting Tory, then just call them a banana split.

[Tafdolphin]

That vice article is horrendously biased

Well we can't be having biased article now can we?

I'm not sure of the point you're making (Tu quoque perhaps?), those papers are also horrendously biased.

I'm saying that almost every article to do with the election is biased and that the one I posted is far, far from the worst offender. For all your fancy logical fallacy references, I really shouldn't have to explain this.

[OrangeRKN]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

Imagine someone who has no knowledge of the various political parties or any of their policies or manifesto pledges. Would you still encourage that person to go out and vote?

I think everyone should make an informed vote - but given the choice between an uninformed vote or no vote at all, I'd prefer the latter. An uninformed vote only dilutes the effect of an informed one.

[OrangeRKN]

I'm saying that almost every article to do with the election is biased and that the one I posted is far, far from the worst offender. For all your fancy logical fallacy references, I really shouldn't have to explain this.

That is in no way a defence of it being biased, and shouldn't be used (as it came across) as a way of invalidating the criticism.

In fact as someone who would rather see a Labour government to a Tory one, when I see articles that are so biased I feel like they do a disservice to the cause of persuading people of the benefits of voting Labour.

[Tafdolphin]

I'm saying that almost every article to do with the election is biased and that the one I posted is far, far from the worst offender. For all your fancy logical fallacy references, I really shouldn't have to explain this.

That is in no way a defence of it being biased, and shouldn't be used (as it came across) as a way of invalidating the criticism.

In fact as someone who would rather see a Labour government to a Tory one, when I see articles that are so biased I feel like they do a disservice to the cause of persuading people of the benefits of voting Labour.

I didn't say it wasn't biased, I was unable to as you never defined what you meant by biased in the first place. You simply stated the fact, like some all knowing God of Truth, leaving me nothing to react to apart from the unspoken but implied criticism that the article was somehow an outlier.

Don't bother explaining it now. I cannot be arsed.

[Moggy]

If I used Facebook, I would probably just post "Everyone should vote, it's really important."

But I don't, so I won't.

Imagine someone who has no knowledge of the various political parties or any of their policies or manifesto pledges. Would you still encourage that person to go out and vote?

I think everyone should make an informed vote - but given the choice between an uninformed vote or no vote at all, I'd prefer the latter. An uninformed vote only dilutes the effect of an informed one.

This hypothetical person doesn’t really exist though do they? Or are you saying that there are people out there with no knowledge of any of the parties that can be persuaded to go and vote, while still not bothering to look into the parties?

If anybody out there is so ignorant that they have no idea at all of the parties or policies, they are not going to go and vote based on a Facebook message of “Go and vote you lazy banana split or else I will bore you to death by explaining what Tu quoque means ”.

[That]

I'm saying that almost every article to do with the election is biased and that the one I posted is far, far from the worst offender. For all your fancy logical fallacy references, I really shouldn't have to explain this.

That is in no way a defence of it being biased, and shouldn't be used (as it came across) as a way of invalidating the criticism.

In fact as someone who would rather see a Labour government to a Tory one, when I see articles that are so biased I feel like they do a disservice to the cause of persuading people of the benefits of voting Labour.

In theory I think you might be right, and I've agreed with similar arguments before. In practice, in this general election the demographics with the lowest turnout tend to support the party I want to win, so yes, I would encourage 'everyone' to vote to level that particular playing field.

[Eighthours]

This Labour campaign really is very good. Making everyone feel sorry for Diane Abbott is genius! Illness is a great excuse, and the best thing is, it can't be unproven!

[Grumpy David]

Shake them titties when you vote bitch.

Rather than being "that guy" on Facebook who posts long political rants, it's more fun to post this clip.

[Moggy]

This Labour campaign really is very good. Making everyone feel sorry for Diane Abbott is genius! Illness is a great excuse, and the best thing is, it can't be unproven!

For a supporter of the progressive left wing Green Party, you certainly sound a lot like a Tory….