What? You can’t see it but you think it’s interesting?
This Sankey diagram is genuinely interesting and informative, as previously posted:
The linked image is hosted on imgur, not on the FT site it originated on. I hope this helps you solve this mystery.
The liked image turns out to be what I posted in post #366. One way or another, this thread is getting too weird for me.
Quartz - nothing too personal but I have to put you on ignore for a while.
So, the Conservative manifesto.
There are some really astonishing proposals being reported. Astonishing because they show just how confident the Tories are. Ending the pension triple-lock. No cap on care costs. Ending universal winter fuel payments. What this says is that the Tories feel there opposition is so weak that they can afford to piss off older voters. The ones who win elections. “Don’t like it? Vote Corbyn then. Or those wishy-washy Lib Dems. Or that UKIP rabble.” Their internal polling must be showing them through the roof with the 55+.
Which is not to say that some of these aren’t good ideas. But it’s a manifesto aimed at getting a mandate for some tough changes.
Cutting down to a dual-lock, I’ve heard.
For rich pensioners only, apparently. Those with the level of income that would attract Labour’s extra tax.
I agree.
You didn’t mention the home care changes, which - if what I’ve read is correct - will hit the home-owning elderly very hard indeed.
Edit: I see you did.
We’ll see soon enough.
As you can tell, I wasn’t reading ahead. 
Speaking of Tory incompetence, I rang up HMRC to pay off my National Insurance shortfall. You’d think that in this time of austerity, they’d be delighted and want my money ASAP. But no, I’ll get contacted in a couple of weeks. Umm… that really inspires confidence in the Tories’ competence, you know.
Gap down to 13 says YouGov this morning (Tory 45, Labour 32).
What troubles me particularity about polls atm - so not including tactical voting, regional variance, ect - is they don’t include Undecided, and an awful lot are waiting to see (a) what the Tory Manifesto says and (b) if Corbyn ‘Man’s up’.
Fwiw, I can’t imagine a worse campaign than what I’ve seen from the Tories so far …
Strong and stable! Stable and strong! ad infinitum…
Anyway, sad to see that the proposed immigration cap still includes students. That’s going to badly damage a sector that the UK is legitimately world class in.
…was legitimately World class in. Damage has been done since 2010.
Has anyone else noticed that it’s not a Tory / Conservative campaign but a Theresa May campaign? Look at how prominently (or rather, how discreetly) ‘Conservative’ is displayed on the campaign coach. Look at how prominently (or rather, how discreetly) ‘Conservative’ is displayed on the lecterns.
Yes, the Guardian has been full of snarky remarks about it, at least since the bus was launched. Marina Hyde this morning, on May and Hammond’s joint press conference:
*“Any shred of economic credibility which Labour had left has now been buried by Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes,” he intoned. The only strong and stable option was “Theresa May and her Conservative team”.
Come come, chancellor. Surely you should know she draws the line at the C-word? It’s Theresa May and her team. Phil doesn’t seem to have appreciated the stakes involved in the campaign chief’s memo banning Theresa May And Her Team from ever saying the word “Conservative”, though I suppose he only let it slip three times. A fairly close shave: if you say it five times, Lynton Crosby is summoned through a haunted mirror, and uses his meat hook to write your resignation letter in your blood.*
Between May and Corbyn’s respective campaigns, a lot of wavering Labour voters who were thinking at the beginning of the year they wouldn’t be voting Labour are being won back over. To what extent that’s horror at May/the Tories and to what extent its support for Labour’s manifesto/changing opinion on Corbyn is probably impossible to disentangle. Certainly, the failure of the Lib Dems to capitalise on a centrist, “Not austerity, not nationalisation” position has helped Labour considerably.
Undecided, as I understand it, tend to break in pretty much the same proportion as the decided. But perhaps this year a lot of the undecided are wavering Labour voters, so there might be something there for Corbyn.
It will be really interesting to see what happens to the voting intentions of pensioners in the first post-manifesto survey.
Yes. This is literally a promise to reduce economic growth.
I think what’s important here is that Theresa May is clearly the person best placed to provide the country with the short, meaningless phrases it needs.
Sorry, did I say “short, meaningless phrases”? I meant “strong, stable leadership” and definitely not “short, meaningless phrases”.
Also: Brexit means Brexit! A negotiation is a negotiation!
Yep, Egg on toast means egg on toast.
I wish she’d finish the sentence; ‘Strong and Stable Austerity’
That was the old paradigm. It hit the fan with Brexit.
Labour has to try and stop the former UKIPers wavering towards the Tories, and even win some back. Ditto Remainers heading towards the LibDems and Tories.
Add in London/Country, also the leadership issue and it’s 4D chess.
That’s just lovely. Brilliant, even.