Life in Remainville: après les vacances, le déluge

So you turn your back for a week and seven pieces of literature arrive. Far too many to scan, so you'll just have to click-and-squint to get a flavour:


After heroically reading all of these I have learned:

  • "Who will stop The Hard Brexit?" - Not the Labour Party, no no no. The Liberal Democrats of course. 8/10 fair point rating, although given how their campaign has gone so far I doubt the Lib Dems will be capable of stopping anything much in the next parliament. 
  • "Who can change the Future of Britain?" - Not Corbyn's Labour Party, no no no. Tim Farron's Liberal Democrats of course. A variation on the same theme but with more boo hiss Corbyn photos. I'm a little bit surprised about the focus on Corbyn as I would have thought Withington would be more sympathetic than most areas to his leadership, but what do I know.
  • John Leech still likes to send us personal letters address personally to us in person. More jabs at Labour regarding Brexit, mixed with local matters. Nice to see a Lib Dem bar chart which is more or less accurate, pointing out that the Conservatives indeed can't win here. Going for the Tory voters then?
  • Jeff Smith will Save Our Schools. A nice touch to actually list the local schools and put a money value on what they will lose under the Tories' proposed funding formula.
  • "It's in YOUR hands" - but what? What's in my hands? Tell me! Ah, but now I see the telltale yellow "YOUR". Yes, of course it's the Lib Dems fighting hard Brexit again, or more specifically Corbyn's hard Brexit.
  • Dr  Clare Gerada, former Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has also taken to sending us unsolicited personal letters addressed personally to us in person. Definitely the most unusual gambit so far and quite interesting that the Lib Dems are going up against Labour with a "Save the NHS" angle. No mention of Labour in the letter though - another pitch for Tory voters concerned about the NHS?
  • Jeff Smith's election communication. Focussing on Tory cuts and the propping up thereof by the Lib Dems, although he does personally pledge to oppose a hard Brexit (so a promise to continue to rebel if necessary? Interesting.)
For fans of photos of Corbyn in a hat, here are the inside details:


To summarise Labour's message is COALITION BAD, while the Lib Dems' is CORBYN BAD, neither of which really resonate for me for reasons I've covered at length before. My indecision continues.

One thing for sure is that in the battle of the leaflets the Lib Dems are miles ahead, which may have something to do with them opening their main Manchester office a short walk away:


On the other hand, a count of window posters on my road is skewed overwhelmingly to Labour, with 9 Jeff Smith posters up already to zero for John Leech. That puts Smith miles ahead of where he was at the same point in the 2015 race. Based on this highly scientific analysis, and given that the Lib Dem's superior leaflet game didn't seem to make much difference in 2015, I predict that Jeff Smith will be re-elected in Withington with an increased majority.


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