Southend West By-Election

[lankeela]

I tuned in to BBC News at 12.00 to find out the result of the by-election - after waiting twenty-five minutes for it to be even mentioned it was given less than two minutes coverage. I think this is disgraceful and is sadly indicative of the BBC's anti Conservative party bias. The report said the Conservatives had 'hung on' to the seat - hardly an appropriate term. Time they lost the licence fee.

[Peter Pedant]

and I said - no bonking in the boof
and he said 'boff!'

[ichkeria]

" Funny old thing ... politics. "

I think what is funny is your er idiosyncratic interpretation of things.

[Gromit]

So the Beeb mentioning spoilt ballot paper proves their anti Tory lefty bias, and the Daily Mail mentioning them, they are showing disdain for the left writers.

Neither are showing bias. They are just reporting a fact that occurred at the count, that they both deem to be newsworthy.

[ToraToraTora]

who cares there's always some rissole spoiling a paper.

[Peter Pedant]

the journos and hacks on the Beeb DO luck uncommonly pleased as they discuss the current situation

Historically - as we have had 45 recycled comments without new facts.... 1962 - Mac (*) 's treasury team resigned ( "a little local difficulty" said Big Mac to great applause -and then the Night of the Long Knives (+) later on - Super Mac survived but not for long

(*) Who he den, 100s of ABers quip. MacMillan ( 'inveterate liar, cdnt tell the truth ( Mrs RAB)) had a treasury team who tired of the stop-go economic policy of er RAB I think - or Selwyn Lloyd
(+) yes intentionally named after the German storm of that name 1934. The Mac version induced Thorpe (Yes Rinka that one) to quip: "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life."

oh those were the days of stilettos and back stabbing

er and today is short beer compared to them!

[Peter Pedant]

// who cares there's always some rissole spoiling a paper.//
and yesterday where there was one, there were a thousand

peanuts compared to the number of the atoms in the universe etc

[lankeela]

"altho lankeela denies it: I thought that the spoilt votes were scrutinised to see if they really WERE spoilt or whether a voting intention cd be descerned." The spoilt papers are indeed scrutinised by a supervisor of the counting staff, to decide whether there is in fact a clear intention to vote for any particular candidate and if it is not clear then they are counted as spoilt. Some just don't even manage to tick any boxes. This is not however an indication that they are looking for anti Boris comments as some would seem to imply as the counting staff have to be impartial.

[lankeela]

"the spoilt vote photie .....
is against the law
as you go in boys and gurlz - they say no cameras"

Heads should roll!

[fiveleaves]

It was an absolute dead cert that the Tories would win. Any other result was as likely as San Marino beating England at football

[Mozz71]

The whole "if they're not pro Tory, they're anti Tory" thought process of some people here is utterly cringy. For the record, I'm with Tora here. Somebody spoils their ballot paper- so what? They're the ones wasting their time and energy in a pointless act.

[douglas9401]

Coronation, shurely.

[Ellipsis]

> Surely the most pointless act is spoiling a ballot paper!

No! People have fought and died to give us the right to vote. It's our duty and a test of our honour to turn up at the polling station and respect the right that our predecessors fought and died for. And then, presented with the shower of shy-te that is typical of ballot papers today, what is one supposed to do to register a protest at the lack of true choice, the lack of morals, the lack of standards, placed in front of them? The only honourable thing. Spoil the paper.

[ichkeria]

Without wishing to sound too holier than thou, I'd have turned up and voted for the Tory, even if the alternative was largely an assortment of dubious or discredited far right candidates.

I also agree that while in the circumstances it was probably tasteless to deface the ballot papers yesterday, it's up to the indiviuals should they wish to do it.

[ichkeria]

I wonder if many non-Tory voters actually did that.
Surely another good reason for holding an election if it gives people the chance to show solidarity as well as, should they wish, protest.

[pat2604]

And there are those who say the BBC is right wing? We stopped watching a lot of their obvious left wing reporting.

[ichkeria]

As desperate barrel scraping goes this particular accusation by the OP is pretty cruel to barrels ...
They feel pain you know ...

[Ellipsis]

Yesterday, if I lived in Southend, I'd have voted Tory. Next time, I'd probably spoil my paper.

As for the BBC. Left wingers complain it's right wing, right wingers complain it's left wing, make of that what you will ...

[douglas9401]

As for the BBC. Left wingers complain it's right wing, right wingers complain it's left wing, make of that what you will ...

...but when it comes to turkeys, I'm a breast man.

[Peter Pedant]

// No! People have fought and died to give us the right to vote.//
er when
Peterloo?
named after but not exactly ( i e hyped up) Waterloo

very little contemporary comment, oddly enough

[Peter Pedant]

// scrutinised by a supervisor of the counting staff,//
yeah arent they helped by the political agents of the parties ( clearly not all but some)

so we shift boys and gurlz from - spoilt votes ( photos unlawful - boff! ) not scrutinised very slowly to spoilt votes are scrutinised by someone sometimes, onto spoilt votes are scrutinised by more than one person....

sounds like AB on a Friday evg - long live troof!