Never too late to lecture the plebs

A pretty lacklustre leaders' debate last night, it seems, although the GRuan insists it was really all about racism and Johnson's offensive remarks and so Corbyn did well. The theme for weeks, for Labour, C4 News, Newsnight and hte Graun) has been that the election is not just about Brexit.The polls, which I admit I have not examined, suggest otherwise, says el Grun:

 A week to go before the election and the Conservative vote appears to have peaked....The party now dominates the leave vote – with a 69% share according to ICM’s analysis published this week – following the effective surrender of Nigel Farage...

the last two weeks has seen Labour gradually squeeze the Liberal Democrat vote, a process that began after Jo Swinson’s appearance on Question Time on 22 November – where the hostility from the studio audience was unexpectedly [!] pronounced ...the remain vote is less split in constituencies where third-party support was a factor. [But]...it will be challenging for Labour to erode Lib Dem support by the 3 to 4 points it needs to even have a chance of depriving Johnson of an overall majority, not least because the Lib Dems’ clear anti-Brexit position appears to have boosted their core vote.

Labour really needs to seize votes and seats from the Conservatives, although the momentum is, if anything, the other way.... Labour continues to struggle for credibility among leave supporters. And, if anything, Labour has become pinned down defending its leave seats rather than going on the attack: there are a dozen seats where Labour has a majority of under 2,000 votes and which voted 55% or more for leave – from Dudley North to Ipswich.

J Harker (Graun deputy Opinion editor and former editor and publisher of Black Briton) makes a last appeal directly to Labour voters who are thinking of voting Tory. This will have to be exceptionally persuasive -- do many of them read the Grauniad? 

As someone raised in a northern working-class town and whose dad was white and working-class [so what tragedy happened to the poor lad to make him a ghuadianista?], I understand the frustrations that led to Brexit...let me reach out, respectfully, from a remainer to a leaver, and ask that you think twice about casting your vote for the Conservatives.

Division will run deep in our society [after Brexit]  with the 48% (16 million) remain voters believing the Boris Johnson Brexit is very different to that promised back in 2016: out of the single market, out of the customs union, and a border down the Irish sea. None of this was on the side of the bus....Yes, the years of negotiation have been agonising...Think of it like buying a home [the poor simple souls need a homely analogy] ...Slogans are simple – reality is a lot more difficult [listen and learn you naive plebs]

Some more class-based stuff: 

Johnson despises people like you. In a Spectator article he wrote that working-class men are “likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless”. Johnson is not your friend, your ally, or someone who’s looking out for you. In the same article he attacked single mothers and their “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate” children...those words had the clear aim of holding up the working-class and single mothers to ridicule and moral condemnation in a magazine catering for the rich and powerful.

Better stay silent on the way people 'like you' are patronisingly despised in the Guardian -- a journal catering for the new petite bourgeoisie.

His attacks on black people (“watermelon smiles”, “piccaninnies”), Muslims (niqab wearers look like “letterboxes” and “bankrobbers”) and gay people (“bumboys”) are now well known [so why bang on and on?]... In contrast, Corbyn always fights for the underdog. While Johnson was smashing up restaurants with his Bullingdon mates knowing he’d never have to worry about the law, Jeremy Corbyn was campaigning to make life better for ordinary working people of all backgrounds...he spoke out for the rights of black people and ethnic minorities facing discrimination and harassment; for women’s rights; for gay rights; and for dialogue with Northern Ireland’s republicans [these identity politics are actually not going to appeal that much to any Labour leave voters, but let's lecture the plebs one more time?] 

There is a really feeble attempt at spin:

what’s given antisemitism such a high media profile over the past couple of years (compared to Tory party Islamophobia, which is widespread but barely receives any coverage), is that fact that Labour members care so much about it and will not stop until it is driven out of the party.

And we can surely believe him on this as well:

 A Corbyn-negotiated Brexit (the basics of which have already, in principle, been met warmly by EU leaders) would protect jobs, protect trade, and protect workers’ rights. Johnson’s deal does none of those things. Remainers would still regret a vote for Brexit, but would abide by it and move on.[oh right!]...Who do you trust? [see polls, above]

Meanwhile the Times [subscription required] gets close to the real problem of trust in this election with this:

Leading broadcasters have been accused of letting a “sense of entitlement” drive “hysterical” rows with politicians as the Conservatives turned their fire on the BBC and Channel 4. Senior media figures warned that broadcasters risked breaching their obligation to remain impartial...“What’s coming through is an arrogance on the part of the journalists in the media, which I think is unwarranted, unnecessary and unseemly,” Lord Grade, a Conservative peer, said.