I've scored columnists' predictions for the outcome of the 2017 snap election made by the @guardian's very own #MysticMegs (written just after May announced it) - Zoe Williams, Matthew d'Ancona, Martin Kettle, Sonia Sodha, Simon Jenkins, Ruth Wishart, & Gaby Hinsliff.
Pretty much everyone on earth had decided this was definitely going to be a humiliating defeat for Corbyn's @UKLabour, with many pundits confidently predicting massive losses - including 'political Brexpert', Matt Goodwin. 🤣
It resulted in an unexpected hung parliament.
From 20 points behind in the polls, Corbyn won 40% of the vote, the largest increase in vote share by a Labour leader since Clem Attlee in 1945, winning 30 more seats than Ed Miliband in 2015, including seats like Canterbury & Plymouth that for years had been Labour no-go areas.
Zoe Williams:
'Scoring points off May’s government is both too easy – they are barely holding it together by any normal governmental standards – and too hard; the levers by which they are held to account aren’t working, & attacks do nothing to douse their impunity!'
3/10
Matthew d’Ancona:
'Labour’s position in the polls is historically dire. A snap election resulting, May hopes, in a stronger Tory Govt & an unambiguous personal mandate is self-evidently the smart option. I never thought that I would feel sorry for Corbyn, but today I do.'
1/10
Martin Kettle:
'May has trashed her own brand. Labour’s position is crucial. But since Jeremy Corbyn put his party on election footing last September he will be hard put to oppose it, whatever the damage the election does to Labour.'
3/10
Sonia Sodha:
'May has faced little real opposition from a Labour party that’s been languishing in the polls. The only grim question facing Labour is how many seats will it lose? And where will that leave Corbyn? Will he resign, or choose to cling on against the odds?'
0/10
Simon Jenkins:
'With a poll lead hovering round 20%, an election is more than appealing. It would seem reckless to reject it. An election under Jeremy Corbyn is certain to be painful. But by autumn its sad flirtation with the archaic left should be over.'
0/10
Ruth Wishart:
'The prospect of another general election will hardly be greeted with enthusiasm by the Scottish Labour party. There are real tensions between its leader, Kezia Dugdale, and Jeremy Corbyn, whom she didn’t support in the leadership election.'
3/10
Gaby Hinsliff:
'It's a mark of how far Labour has fallen that the LibDems’ press operation is sharper. The worse Labour performs, the more Farron’s message that the best Remainers can hope for is a reduced Tory majority with his party holding them in check will resonate.'
1/10
So next time you encounter any @guardian columnists (or ANYONE paid a fortune to speculate in a highly partisan manner corresponding to the political leaning of their employer) predicting the outcome of a #GE, take their OPINIONS with a HUGE pinch of salt! theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
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Keynote speaker at #NatCon, Heritage Foundation President: “Heritage’s position, to be really plain, is that marriage is between one man & one woman, full stop.” Asked if that means annulling existing same-sex marriages, he says “I hope so. That would be good for civil society.”
What follows is a summary #THREAD of the 'Statement of Principles' offered by 'National Conservatism', a Christian nationalist project of the Edmund Burke Foundation - a lobbying 'institute' founded in 2019 with the aim of strengthening the principles of national conservatism".
Welfare officials failed to properly identify the risk of harm to Errol Graham, a severely mentally ill man whose disability benefit payments they cut off and who died of starvation eight months later, an official report has found.
An independent safeguarding review into the “shocking & disturbing” events leading to Errol’s tragic & lonely death concluded that multiple failings by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), his GP practice, & social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed.
In the months before his death, his disability benefits were stopped, triggering the automatic cancellation of his housing benefit, pushing him into £1,000 in rent arrears. It also led to the disconnection of his gas supplies, and moves to evict him. 💔 🤬
The Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), gathering in Bournemouth on Saturday, insists it is not a Johnson-revivalist group, despite almost every speaker – among them Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg & Nadine Dorries – being a noted Johnson supporter.
David Campbell Bannerman launched the CDO in December alongside banker & Tory peer, Peter Cruddas.
Senior Tory insiders, concerned at what they see as a party within a party, are alarmed that former Ukip donor Arron Banks held discussions with Cruddas about the CDO’s work.
Banks told friends he was “helping” Johnson with a potential comeback by using his database to “reach out” to local Conservative associations.
It's every delusional Great Reset conspiracy theorist's head exploding on hearing the news that @elonmusk is set to appoint Linda Yaccarino as @Twitter's new CEO, who since 2019, has been Executive Chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF). 🤯🤣
World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab launched an initiative called The Great Reset in June 2020, which called for "fairer outcomes" & reimagining how global investments were made in order to boost the world's economy following the economic downturn during the pandemic.
Conspiracy theorists across the world - but particularly from the free-market supporting Right elites in Britain & America - believed these proposals were a ploy to take down capitalism & create a New World Order under the guise of Covid-19 restrictions.
Very brief #THREAD featuring four video clips that imho provide essential context for better understanding the Mirror Group Phone Hacking trial, which involves Harry & Piers Morgan.
The #propaganda puked out daily by the ideologically extreme Mail, Telegraph, & Express is grotesque. The UK's 'small boats' & 'people smuggling' 'crises' have been manufactured by our cruel Govt, who have deliberately caused an unprecedented backlog in asylum cases. 🇬🇧
When the cruel & illiberal @Conservatives came to power in 2010, the backlog of asylum claims was just 18,954.
By the end of 2022, they had deliberately manufactured a backlog of 132,182 cases - 160,919 if family members applying with them are included.
Our barbaric Govt knows that strong evidence shows that policies of deterrence against smuggling actually fuel smuggling, forcing routes to become more dangerous, smugglers more organised, & migrants less able to cross borders without their services. 🇬🇧