Despite having more money than they know what to do with, the Tories’ broadcasts have been dreadful. Despite having next to no money, Labour’s have been terrific, for which thanks to Mark Lucas at Silverfish (I can even forgive him for designing my website in a way that means the blog can’t be read on an iPhone) and all the presenters, producers, cameramen and women, actors, supporters and others who have given of their time and commitment.
Eddie Izzard’s ‘Brilliant Britain’ film has been watched online more than any UK election broadcast ever. Tonight’s from Ross Kemp will run it close. (BBC2 17.55, ITV1 18.25, BBC1 18.55, Five 19.25, C4 19.55)
There have also been some terrific viral films, and here is one inspired by David Cameron’s Big Society ‘Vision.’ As you watch, remember TS Elliot’s definition of wit – the alliance of levity and seriousness by which the seriousness is intensified. You can personalise this film here
Enjoy the film. You certainly won’t enjoy the Tory vision of public services if they are elected on Thursday.
Typical Labour hypocrisy. Yesterday, Brown was supporting the work of Citizens UK and now you promote a video rubbishing the idea of public involvement. No wonder Balls and Hain have given up and are looking to the LibDEms to keep them and Brown clinging onto office.
Champagne socialist ‘Z’ listers like Izzard & Kemp should stick to what they are supposedly good at instead of patronising me & telling me how to use my vote!
Thanks Alastair for making the PEBs from these Labour luvvies available on your blog. Just watching them has incentivised me to put my cross next to the Tory candidate on Thursday!
This post seems to suggest you have given up on New Labour.
BTW, all this negative campaigning really doesn’t do New Labour or politics in general any good at all.
Both rubbish broadcasts…mutiny in the ranks as the rats leave the sinking “Bad Ship Brown” – unlucky Alastair not been a great time for you lately.
My only wish left now to complete is that the left/centre left degenerate into an almighty ding-dong and split into oblivion….thats after my first being Burnley go down and the second a Tory maj
Another negative blog.
One of the themes of this Election that will be exposed after May 6th is Labour’s complete inability to sell a positive message. It is no surprise really- the old warriors of 1997 – Campbell, Mandelson, Blair and Brown are all heading the campaign, but now singing a tune that is 13 years out of date.
This campaign has been Labours version of Life Or Mars…although maybe Ashes to Ashes is more apt ?
The four Tory idiots activists who have attempted to hijack the blog clearly haven’t watched the videos.
That’s very clever how you can personalise the video! Could properly freak some people out. In a good way, I mean.
Agree how even though they’ve had shedloads of cash, the Tory broadcasts are still pretty rubbish. Lord Cashcroft must look at Dave and see him as a no more than a walking, talking waste of money.
Also notice how in the latest Tory broadcast, there’s some unfortunate child standing behind Dave at one point, in what can only be described as an agony of boredom. I blame the parents.
How is it news are filling tons of space with the mad ravings of a candidate who cannot possibly be an MP But a Tory saying she pays for gays to be cured, and David Cameron’s pressman being up to his ears in the phonehack scandal is not on the news at all. The media bias in thisw campaign has been a disgrace
I loved ‘Brilliant Britain’. The new ppb is a touch on the negative side for me. I would have preferred a re-run of GB’s speech at Citizens UK which was completely inspiring and inspired.
But it’s not me you need to convince, I suppose.
Neoliberalism has not delivered a small state, but a market state in which government is everywhere. Neoliberals want to limit government. But because of the financial crisis government had to save the system. Unregulated capitalism almost destroyed itself and turned to the state for rescue. Same will happen again if we do not find a new model.
We need a renewed role of the state. Return of the state is needed for economic security.
It is true that public spending has risen. And that state is big nowadays. But what kind of state? Neoliberals have used the state to reshape social institutions on the model of the market!
Neoliberals are not libertarians. A neoliberal state can include a limited welfare state. Neoconservatives are critics of neoliberalism. The see it being amoral and destroying social cohesion.
The banking crisis rules out return to neoliberalism. But will this herald a revival of social democracy? Due to bank bailouts state has now so much debt that maintaining the high levels of public spending is not possible.
Expansive welfare state and interventionist industrial policies fell out of favour in the 1980s after the great inflation of the 1970s.
There is no definitive answer to the balance between private and public sector.
Puts the Tory threat across beautifully….comparisons with the X Factor have been made with the candidates being measured on image and not substance…this brings home the reality that the Big Society has more to do with breaking up support and service systems which would take generations to rebuild. These public services are the socially cohesive elements which we in the UK are rightly proud. At the end of the day the Tory and Lib Dem lack of experience is a huge RISK FACTOR and the REAL X FACTOR is the one which will return a Labour Government next Thursday..Vote for Britain Vote Labour
Why are hideous Tories on here – clear off back to the Mail. Why do you want the left to disintegrate – don’t like democracy and a rnge of views different from The Right? Champagne? unlike the bubbly swilling Tories then. Tories make me sick – self righteous, self interested and comtemptible to the core. Now, an end to those attitudes would be fine with me. Thats Labour’s greatest failing – they didn’t put the Tories to the sword ten years ago when they had the chance – they will always come back and now vengeance is in the air. Nasty.
Hey Al – should get GBs speech at Citizen UK more air – pity he didn’t do that on the TV debate, would be back of the net for us!! Also, why the pathetic GMTV leaving politice discussion – bet they don’t ask Clegg or Cam that. And, noticed how the Tories have their usual patronising tone for the voter now to perform their duty and go and run along to the polling station with card in hand and vote as instructed by the billboards and media. They want to get on with the job you know.
Nasty.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and that has been a hallmark of this election campaign from Labour. The levels of creativity, have matched the commitment by the people on the doorstep. The big conversation from Labour has kept this election alive. It has fed the imagination of the internet campaign, which has fed it in turn.
All Labour films have been huge hits. They’ve all been conversations about Labour, and about the choice the electorate have to make. These films, the doorstep conversations, the unite phonebank, and the internet community, have been the only means for Labour to communicate without interference from the Murdoch Mafia (and we must include the whole of the right-wing press in his sphere of influence).
It is heartening that so many people have remained undecided. There is a bond of trust that was formed between the Labour party and the people of Britain in 97, and they are reluctant to break it. Some have bought the negativity, but not enough. This is why Sky have resorted to desperate tactics week after week. But their ignorance of the real picture, has been the reason why people are aware, that the media aren’t being straight with them (possibly with the exception of Ch4).
The people are still listening to Labour, despite the attempts to silence our message. We have received little credit, when it has been due. Gordon won the third debate hands down, but it was spun so hard the public were left scratching their heads. Yesterday, we witnessed what has been described by many senior journalists, as the finest political speech they have ever witnessed. It was a game-changer that would have turned the polls upside down,in a normal election.
Those in the hall yesterday, and those who have witnessed it on TV, will tell people about it, and those on the doorstep should encourage people to look at it online. When the people see Gordon as he was yesterday, they see a good man who will fight for them. They see a brother and they see a friend.
I see that Nick Robinson has posted on his blog today how questions to the PM seem sanitised after the furore over Mrs Duffy. Could Alastair find out how many days in a row following this unfortunate incident have the BBC accompanied any pieces about the Labour Party – certainly true of the Campaign Show which I’ve been watching, and maybe the case elsewhere – by ‘inadvertently’ leaving a Gordon Brown Gaffe banner headline above the rolling news updates at the bottom of the screen. This appears to have been as much of a “coincidence’ as the sound levels at yesterday’s meeting at Westminster’s Methodist Hall going down a couple of notches during the applause for the PM’s speech, then reverting upwards to catch his next words. Public Service Broadcasting, my arse!
I too found the Ross Kemp brodcast a little on the negative side. I suppose it’s main message was to get out and vote, essential at this stage of the campaign, but Labour needs to be less bleak in these final hours.
I love good humoured election broadcasts.
Even though the subject is very serious it is communicated much better with a bit of humour.
The viewing figures for the Labour party videos on You Tube are huge. A lot of those viewers will be the converted, like me, but to get the videos seen by floating voters then they must have some more general appeal. I think this video has that.
Isn’t time that Sky News re-branded itself as Fox News-at least that would be honest (…and that would make a change)
Heard DC being taken apart on PM by Eddie Mair on PM,especially his Big Society idea…His wishy-washy stuff just didn`t wash with Eddie…GB is right to scare us about a government headed by DC
These videos have obviously touched a raw nerve with the Tory commenters at this blog.
But I’m afraid they are a drop in the ocean compared with the propaganda being pumped into the marginals with the help of Ashcroft’s millions.
This is the real scandal of this election and we should be doing much more to expose it.
DON’T LET ASHCROFT’S MARGINALS MILLIONS BUY THE ELECTION!
Vote Labour or vote tactically.
Fabulous speech by our Gordon in Manchester.I thought his London speech was terrific buthis one ticked most of the boxes,.
Now he needs to do the same again on his growth rate,interest rates and inflation and compare it to the previous years of inflation,yo yo gowth and interest rates under the Tories. You can never tell it too often.
Kind regards
The Great Bank Crash – who knew?
It might be nice for Cameron to be asked ” If the Bank Directors did not know,the Auditors getting fees did not know,the pension fund portfolio managers did not know,the Governor of the Bank of England did not know and the FSA did not know how was Gordon Brown supposed to know?
Kind Regards
The only reason Cameron has portrayed himself as “Mr Positive” is that he has the posters and the obscenely right wing Press spitting out all the poison against civilised and progressive politicians on a daily basis for months!
GB is the most talented politician of this generation and -NEWSFLASH – the recession was INTERNATIONAL. No one had more impact than him and Alastair Darling in energising the arguments against cuts, protectionism and a return to the Right Wing depression of the 1930s.
Hi Alastair
Great video!!!
Another laugh for you in Wednesday SUN YouGov poll.
Question – Suppose a Conservative Government were formed under Mr Cameron. Which of these statements comes closest to your own view?
I would be delighted – 23%
I WOULD BE DISMAYED – 46%
But for some strange reason the Sun did not feature it as a headline.
Good Luck to Gordon and the workers
David
Ladbrokes are giving odds of 33-1 on a Labour win! Someone should get on the Facebook and start a “Offset the tax hikes: Have a flutter on Gordon at 33-1, then vote for him on Thursday” campaign…Round up the (38%!!) undecideds, get them down the bookies!
I have no doubt voters will come home to Labour as the wonderful YG poll suggests Labour largest seats. They have held out until the last minute and rightly. We have all been so upset by so many things Labour have done. But at the end of the day Tory tax cuts for the 3000 wealthiest and the disgusting reintroduction of fox/badger/stag hunting was too much
Those 31% undecided but certain to vote will swing it for Labour
Any Tories on here, try ‘I know it’s over’, The Smiths, worth a listen
Love the Big Society video Alistair. So much for the Tory time for change. Let’s face it, Rupert Murdoch doesn’t decide the outcome of this election, we do. Hope you’ve all visited avaaz.org/en/the kingmaker/?vl Over 31,000 have signed this petition so far.
Can`t help thinking GB has missed a trick by not doing the `through the night` thing earlier in the campaign and therefore trumping DC. The strong performances of GB in the last few days should carry more weight though.
It`s bound to be messy after tomorrow but continuing the fight for every last vote will make the outcome better for Labour. GET OUT AND VOTE!!
I’m pleased to say I CAN (and do) read your blog on my iPhone! Although it is a bit awkward it’s worth the effort, cheers!
To Mark Rugman: How DO you read Alastair’s blog on an iPhone? Damned if I can.
Great broadcast last night-again.I thought that Ross could have said that the most dangerous gang that he had ever seen were “Call me Dave” ,Gideon “missing in inaction ” Osborne and their Bullingdon Chums??(Just a thought)