3/ It is almost as if they are not pressed for detail because we cynically believe we already know the answer they will give. But that just deprives us of ways to make our case.
4/ I have not heard interviewers attempt to draw any critical relation between Brexit and proposed budgets. Vast sums are promised without mention of shrinking GDP. Why have no questions been raised about the billions-sized hole that will appear after loss of EU funding?
5/,About the effect on deprived regions? Where is the priority list and spending plan to make up for this? We pledge to promote EU benefits, but by omitting challenging our politicians we are missing the opportunity.
6/ Britains, gripped by pre-traumatic stress, looked by as industries + services left, closed or descended into a pit of denial (farming, fishing) Who is asking about mitigating further losses and incentivising return? About details of future cooperation and standards? #ukfarming
7/ Details fall by the wayside in the face of permanent fire fighting. We know this is what they bank on, but we almost manically can’t resist to address the biggest fire/dead cat first. That makes us our own worst enemy.
8/ A good example is the #NHScrisis. Now engulfed in the fire of impending US buy-outs, we contemplate future risk. We are no longer asking the leaders: How can you justify the detrimental effect of leaving the EU per se while resolve the current crisis?
9/ Loss of staff, cooperation, access, funding- all great reasons to #Remain. Yet we are not pressing the case.
You could apply the same argument to science and education.
Both Johnson and Corbyn have been distinctively mealy-mouthed about immigration this week .
You could apply the same argument to science and education.
Both Johnson and Corbyn have been distinctively mealy-mouthed about immigration this week .
10/ Llittle to no emphasis on the positives of immigration - it is all about restriction. How are the budget /manifesto claims standing up to skills shortages, reduced workforce + loss of workers’ rights by abolishing EU protections? Another positive EU argument lost.
11/ What are their plans for Brits in the EU + the time table for enshrining rights for EU citizens in the UK? #The5Million are yet again unrepresented and disregarded. We only register on the radar of a few MPs in Parliament.
Which bings me nicely to the issue of time.
Which bings me nicely to the issue of time.
12/“It’s amazing that most of us live as if we’re not gonna die.” (Alan Alda to the Guardian)
Remain is collectively hanging on as if we’re not gonna leave.
Meanwhile in the EU, patience is running precariously thin.
Remain is collectively hanging on as if we’re not gonna leave.
Meanwhile in the EU, patience is running precariously thin.
13/ Neither of the leaders have been properly confronted about their detailed plan for negotiations, the timeframe and content thereof. Everything they promise is part of an unbalanced equation - it ignores the EU timetable and the risks of failing their deadlines.
14/ Emotions are high, and we are busy arguing. But hand on heart, no party has sufficient answers, especially not the big two.
So our priority must be to put a spanner in the whole works. All of it.
And pronto.
So our priority must be to put a spanner in the whole works. All of it.
And pronto.
15/ The Tories must go (blockage, as they say), the cause justifies the means of #TacticalVoting. Then we get to work and take the rest apart, relentlessly asking the difficult stuff. I look forward to that! x
