Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

New Labour - is the corpse finally dead?

It has often been remarked upon that the support of The Sun newspaper is essential to win a general election. The paper in question is forever crowing on about how "It Was The Sun Wot Won It" back in 1992, when Major shocked everyone by returning to government - it's a story which has some truth in it. Tony Blair courted the paper assidiously throughout his time as PM, giving them exclusive stories and interviews.

Tomorrow, The Sun comes out saying they are switching to supporting the Tories. Looks like it's curtains for New Labour, then. Can't say I'll miss them - if it was up to me, every single member of the Labour Party would face being boiled to death after the next general election, with the Prime Mentalist going first.

Though I can't say I'm looking forward to David Cameron's government ruling over us, either...
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
«1

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This is just a case of the rat abandoning the sinking ship. It is now, it was 1997 when the Scum started kissing Blair's arse, and it was in 92 too IMO.

    Murdoch simply likes to back a winner, then threaten to remove his support in order to control government policy. Sadly it is likely governments past and present buy into the hype.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How influential are the papers now-a-days anyway? I understand the Internet is knocking ten bells 'o shit out of their profits due to decreasing readership. So the Sun may bleat on about the Torys or whatever, but maybe its not the same number of folks that will get to hear it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teagan wrote: »
    How influential are the papers now-a-days anyway? I understand the Internet is knocking ten bells 'o shit out of their profits due to decreasing readership. So the Sun may bleat on about the Torys or whatever, but maybe its not the same number of folks that will get to hear it?
    Newspapers remain incredibly influential, even nowadays. Whilst it's true that the number of people buying print editions of newspapers is down, the number reading their websites is up exponentially. The only issue for the industry at the moment is how to translate that growth into profits. Already, there are rumours abound that The Independent is due to go online only within months, as the paper is haemorrhaging money.

    As for Aladdin's comments, the enormous rat community that lives in Britain (for you are never more than six feet away from one, we are told) would be greatly offended by you comparing them to Rupert Murdoch.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is the corps finaly dead?
    Most corpses are SG .....:)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with the comments so far. If The Sun had the influence they claim they have, they wouldn't have waited until now to switch allegiances. They're jumping on the bandwagon when it's almost reached its destination.

    If there's one paper that can claim to have destroyed this government, it's the Telegraph (I know it was a cross party criticism, but it's always the government that gets blamed).

    But I agree with what others have said, they're not as influential as they think they are. They're not a newspaper that is taken particularly seriously anymore, unlike (unfortunately) the Daily Mail. But beyond that, they are facing ever increasing competition from numerous online sources. The Sun is nowhere near the most popular newspaper website, not only being behind The Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph, but even its own sister paper The Times, and fellow News Corp website Sky News (although obviously as a group, they are quite powerful, assuming the other two join The Sun in their political policy). But particularly the BBC website, which is massively more popular than any commercial news source. In 2005, the BBC accounted for over 28% of all UK news traffic, whereas Sky was the third most popular website, but only managed just under 4%. This combined with 24 hour news channels, which have a duty to be impartial.

    But I think even more important than the existance of rival news sources, is the existance of many free news sources, which means that the days of single-source news are pretty much over. People can read different reports for free, which does nothing but damage the case of explicitly biased newspapers such as the tabloids. Maybe that explains why the broadsheets generally have far more popular websites, with the exception of the Mail, which seems to have carved out a niche of being the reactionary source for topics designed to start a debate on websites like this one.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I will vote Labour now :thumb:

    The Sun is fucking hideous. Make your own mind up nevermind listening to what Amy from Dagenham thinks whilst posing in her knickers.

    Seriously though why do people listen to Rupert Murdoch and The Sun ??? :confused:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I agree with the comments so far. If The Sun had the influence they claim they have, they wouldn't have waited until now to switch allegiances. They're jumping on the bandwagon when it's almost reached its destination.
    Eight months from the election, whereas with Blair, it was a few weeks, if I read correctly.

    They might not be an influence so much as a symptom, the way rats leaving a ship aren't responsible when it sinks, but it's still a significant sign of which way the wind's blowing...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is the corps finaly dead?
    Most corpses are SG .....:)
    Perhaps this needs explanation. This was my (possibly rather poor) attempt to get across the message that New Labour has been written off countless times. Perhaps "zombie" would have been a better word, but... I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. It was also a reference to Gordon Brown being described as a "dead man walking" a few days ago.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    Perhaps this needs explanation. This was my (possibly rather poor) attempt to get across the message that New Labour has been written off countless times. Perhaps "zombie" would have been a better word, but...
    Hold on a second. Zombies are cool as fuck. I would deffo vote for a party made of zombies. Does this mean Labour are suddenly cool? :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ... Why would anyone listen to a political view, that's printed a few pages after a pair of tits??
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Calvin wrote: »

    Seriously though why do people listen to Rupert Murdoch and The Sun ??? :confused:

    Because the "Great British" public, are generally a bunch of ill-informed morons.

    Labour may have made mistakes, but the alternatives aren't better.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im in the camp of voting labour as well just cause if the sun says to do it im likely to do the opposite, cause its a filthy rag, not worth the paper its printed on :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    dunno, i think the government has gone from blunder to blunder in recent years but i don't think the conservatives and offer much more than a posh face on things.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    F_200707_July10ed_i_334236a.jpg
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well of course the Tories won't be any better. Pretty much every cock up that Labour have made has been supported by the Tories, and most of the decent stuff they've done has been opposed by them. The Tories would've done nothing differently to prevent the economic situation we're now in, and would've done a hell of a lot worse in terms of dealing with the aftermath. Only the Lib Dems can honestly claim that they would've made the right moves before and after the events to minimize the impact of the economic meltdown.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    Because the "Great British" public, are generally a bunch of ill-informed morons.

    If you sincerely believe that to be true, shouldn't you be asking "democracy - is the corpse finally dead ?"
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    "labours lost us" the headline from the sun there.... whereas nearly every other newspaper has a headline about the earthquakes and peoples lives ending due to them...The sun wants to make it more clear that they aren't backing labour.
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you sincerely believe that to be true, shouldn't you be asking "democracy - is the corpse finally dead ?"


    And you honestly believe it isn't? When a newspaper believes it can swing a general election, democracy is dead.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    And you honestly believe it isn't? When a newspaper believes it can swing a general election, democracy is dead.

    No, when a newspaper actually can, it's dead. Fortunately, their claims about their own power are about as accurate as their claims about events in general.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    LaLaLa wrote: »
    "labours lost us" the headline from the sun there.... whereas nearly every other newspaper has a headline about the earthquakes and peoples lives ending due to them...The sun wants to make it more clear that they aren't backing labour.
    X

    I know it's pathetic. There was a prefix to that, which was "Now the public speak out" (paraphrased) as if they're following the Sun's lead, rather than the actual situation, which is the Sun following the public's money. Funny the Scottish Sun hasn't come out in support of the Tories isn't it? :rolleyes:

    I was thinking about what the red tops remind me of, and I realised it was the computer game magazines I used to read when I was about 13. Constantly kissing their own arse, and giving themselves undue credit. You only need to read the back pages when one of the ten football transfers they reported in the past week actually happens. They're like a psychic that realises if they report enough stories, one is bound to turn out to be true, and then is really smug when it happens.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well, to be honest, I think the torries in for more of a chance now. Sad I know, but there are so many people out there who'll think "Oh, look, the sun think that labour are going down hill. Maybe we should back the torries?" Infact, there wont even be a question mark, it'll just be a statment. *sighs* and that is why I read the guardian.
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think i might vote ukip, new labour is further right than the conservatives, and the lib dems are very pro europe and pro stupidly high rates of tax. i think eu is a fundamentally bad idea so that only really leaves one party :| ukip is not a racist party btw, i don't understand why this myth is still alive because any investigation proves in false in a few easy steps.

    ps. was it just me, or did peter mandelson's speech at the labour party conference seem alot like the speech at the end of the 4th harry potter book when voldermort rises from the dead :s
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeahwalk wrote: »
    ukip is not a racist partyQUOTE]

    Riggghhhtttt.....

    Did you know, that you saying that shows that in the back of your mind you're considering it. Because no body actually mentioned it :thumb:
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeahwalk wrote: »
    ps. was it just me, or did peter mandelson's speech at the labour party conference seem alot like the speech at the end of the 4th harry potter book when voldermort rises from the dead :s

    I didn't listen to the speach... And I haven't read harry potter :yeees: but I'll agree anyway.

    Yes, it really did sound like that speach, didn't it? *giggle*
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    nobody mentioned it because nobody had mentioned the party previously! and everyone i've spoken to in person seems to equate ukip with bnp which is just stupid.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeahwalk wrote: »
    nobody mentioned it because nobody had mentioned the party previously! and everyone i've spoken to in person seems to equate ukip with bnp which is just stupid.

    well... they are both for "British independance" and neither has a chance of winning...
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well i agree the BNP has no chance of winning, because their election performance is poor and most people find their outspoken racism and general small mindedness repugnant. i think that UKIP is definately not such a party and indeed is much more sucessful in elections because it is a party with legitamate political views and is only tarred with the same brush because they slighly similar names and advocate withdrawal from the EU.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Personally, I'd want to vote for http://www.omrlp.com/ them haha!! Noo.. I'd vote green party :-) but I think the race is really between labour and torries, the british people don't like change!
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    anybody else watching eastenders?? Was that seriously Borris johnsan?
    X
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeahwalk wrote: »
    ps. was it just me, or did peter mandelson's speech at the labour party conference seem alot like the speech at the end of the 4th harry potter book when voldermort rises from the dead :s
    I loathe having to say anything nice about a New Labour apparatchik, but Lord Mandelsnake's speech was entertaining, if nothing else. Mind you, he could have composed an entire speech just from reading out his full name and job title. Whilst on the topic of Harry Potter, not for nothing has Peter Mandelson been nicknamed Lord Voldermort in the past!

    Brown's speech, on the other hand, was even worse than last year's speech. It was dubbed "the speech of his life" and he still managed to fuck it up. He then went round the TV studios losing his temper with various interviewers - when he stormed out of a meeting with Adam Boulton from Sky News, he walked straight into a door. (not the first time Brown's temper has made him look an utter and complete twat - when he had an interview with the political journo from Sky News a few years ago, he walked into a plant pot)
    LaLaLa wrote: »
    anybody else watching eastenders?? Was that seriously Boris Johnson?
    I don't watch EastEnders personally, but I have heard reports that he's appearing in tonight's edition.
Sign In or Register to comment.