Policy or Personality? Which decides voter choice?

L1 personalising the political 2015 from DB3igs

“The public debate and the media, which is becoming increasingly celebrity culture, rather hysterical, sensational, and reduces the whole thing to theatre. Everybody’s election campaigns are presidential, everything’s attributed to the party leader. What matters is how the party leader eats a hamburger and all this type of thing." - Ken Clarke, former Tory government minister, 2015 

He also appealed to the media to raise their sights from personalities and focus on policy. “The media treatment of any politician over unsubstantiated allegations, be it David Cameron, me or anyone else, is wrong and too much of our media is obsessed with personality politics, obsessed with personal criticism of politicians and therefore detracting from very serious issues around housing, living standards, jobs or world peace.

“I say that kindly. I’m a member of the NUJ actually. Can we try to have more of a grown up media? Or is that too much to ask?” - Jeremy Corbyn 'has not decided' whether to kneel in front of Queen http://gu.com/p/4cybm

ISSUE: Has politics, or at least the coverage of this, become just another genre of TV/media entertainment, centred on personalities and 'star' power? Does our media properly perform its 'fourth estate', 'watchdog' duties?

Jez, he can rock a knitted jumper...
The media has a new bogeyman with 'Red Ed' duly vanquished...

But maybe he needs a bullet-proof vest?

FEBRUARY 2015, MEDIA FURORE OVER GREEN LEADER'S POOR PERFORMANCE:
The radio interview, as reported by ITV News:


The equally disastrous appearance on the Sunday Politics Show with Andrew Neil (start from 4:17):



The former Green leader defends her on C4 News; should/does Lucas' superior media performance matter?

Media coverage was consistently condemnatory and dismissive of Bennett - does this harm the Greens? Consider how closely UKIP's fortunes are tied to Farage.

As the recent spotlight on The Sun's page 3 has reminded us, Rupert Murdoch's entry into the UK media market back in 1968 (buying the NoTW, spectacularly closed in 2011 after the phone hacking scandal broke, and The Sun in 1969) has had far-reaching consequences. A comparison of the nature of newspapers then and now is extraordinary: all, whether popular/tabloid/mid-market (the red-tops) or quality/broadsheet have hugely upped their coverage of soft news (sport, celebrity, human interest) and cut some aspects of their hard news (politics, foreign affairs etc).

This has led to the development of two terms to describe a phenomenon which has since spread beyond the press into all media: tabloidisation and dumbing down.

Have the media, with their frequent focus on personality of leaders and the soap opera of parties' internecine (internal) splits and rivalries rather than policy, turned politics into another form of entertainment, 'politainment'?

There are those who would argue that the media does not in any way perform its fourth estate, watchdog duty as the guarantor of democracy. Noam Chomsky famously argued that it operates on a 'propaganda model', filtering out any radical content that challenges the governing elites (Manufacturing Consent) and creating a false sense of political competition (Necessary Illusions). Russell Brand has rather less scholastically put forth similar views recently, urging people not to vote.

Use the resources below to make up your own mind...

Politainment. The big story of 2014. Politainment is what unites Boris, Brand and Farage, the men who dominate our political dialogue to such an extent that we’ve given up talking about it in favour of talking about them. It’s an old idea (Texan politico Bill Miller coined the phrase “Politics is show business for ugly people” back in 1991, before Jay Leno), but with a twist. Today’s personality politicians are all (to some extent) outsiders. They don’t have to stand a chance of making PM – or stand at all – to make the weather. The centre is so indistinct that the fringe has become the natural area of interest. A sideshow has developed, with circus acts to match. Ugly business for show people. [Lauren Laverne, The Boris, Brand and Farage show: why politicians should steer clear of showbiz]

Politainment, a portmanteau word composed of politics and entertainment, describes tendencies in politics and mass media to liven up political reports and news coverage using elements from public relations. Of doubtful virtue, declining amounts of content and substance can easily be compensated by giving news stories a sensationalistic twinge. Politainment thus ranges on the same level as edu- and infotainment. [Wiki]

Living Color: Cult of Personality.


Nigel Farage plays Fruitcake or Loony on HIGNFY

Click below to view further resources

Their policies are erratic, but their leading lights have pledged support for slashing taxes on the rich, privatising public services and repealing basic workers’ rights.
Sentiments, though. Just 36% of voters believe that Nigel Farage was privately educated, even though he was schooled at the prestigious fee-paying Dulwich College; over half believe the same for the state-educated Ed Miliband. Farage has successfully effected an everyman appeal, complete with the almost compulsory pint of bitter at every photographic opportunity. He doesn’t sound scripted, but rather talks in the language of common sense; he presents himself as the outsider against the machine. In a world of relentlessly on-message, professionalised career politicians, it takes little to shine. (Rochester byelection: beliefs of Ukip voters are soaked in leftwing populism)

Nigel Farage's Weather Forecast on BBC Politics Show
Notably, this was uploaded by 'UKIPwebmaster'.


Gordon Brown Overheard Calling Woman Bigot


Gordon Brown Hears the News...


A Typical HIGNFY Gordon Brown Feature


WochIT News: Green Party threaten to sue over 2015 TV Debate exclusion


Ed Miliband on HIGNFY


Ed Miliband Repeats Himself


Discussion: Media's Portrayal of Ed as Wallace


Telegraph: Tips for Ed's New Media Adviser


David Cameron: Miliband is a complete mug


David cameron labels Nadine Dorries 'frustrated'


WebCameron (spoof ending)


SamCam




Some further resources for researching this question:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/20/politics-policy-media-personality-leadership;
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/brazil-elections-personality-rather-than-issues-sure-to-dominate-poll-with-tv-stars-an-astronaut-and-a-porn-star-among-the-candidates-9756413.html;
http://www.ippr.org/juncture/political-leadership-in-an-anti-political-age;
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/prime_minister_british_politics.htm;
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/digital/crossman/urss/democracy/;
http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/australian-politics-should-focus-on-policy-not-personalities/;
http://www.salon.com/2008/04/17/glenn_greenwald/;
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9322492/the-politics-of-ppe/;
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/23/the-ukip-politices-disowned-by-nigel-farage;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11239826/Legalise-handguns-and-repatriate-migrants-Ukips-7-most-controversial-policies.html;

2015 Election Campaign:

Comparison of Mail/Metro coverage.

Attacks on Ed Miliband's personality: Stephanie Flanders condemns intrusion; Mail/Metro (owned by same company) coverage compared;

ELECTION video mash-ups

The general election campaign sees the usual range of party political broadcasts and posters, but there are some rather more fun mash-ups out there, where footage is re-edited and re-presented to twist and transform the original meaning or message. The Observer brought together a few of these; click on the <READ MORE> link below to find the link; the picture is just a screenshot of the article.

20 year-old MP? Will teenage Tweets cost her?

Mhairi Black: the 20-year-old student poised to unseat Douglas Alexander.

A breakdown of who votes in UK elections

Who are Britain's 1m-plus missing voters?
http://gu.com/p/44qvk

Young people are much less likely to vote than older people, and this means the major parties tend to ignore the needs of the youth, whilst privileging pensioners - pensions go up while tuition fees go up and the EMA is scrapped for example.

A new report (note: this is being pushed by one political party, so there may be bias in this) claims a million young voters have disappeared off the register, a serious issue with an election due.

1 million young voters losing right to vote?

Ed Miliband targets Nick Clegg with claim 1m voters lost from electoral roll
http://gu.com/p/45v9g

Al Murray joins long line of comic parties

Al Murray the Pub Landlord joins hustings humorists by taking on Nigel Farage

http://gu.com/p/44q8t

Did you know that ANYONE can launch their own political party?

The Electoral Commission, who set laws on voting and registering to vote and registering to stand for election, are considering scrapping the requirement to deposit £500, and encourage more, especially younger, candidates to stand for election.

There are many 'single issue' parties across the UK, campaigning for things such as saving a hospital threatened with closure, to legalise cannabis, or to stop road-building, to take three examples.

As well as the long-established Monster Raving Loony Party, there are several 'joke' parties and candidates.

In Italy it looks like a comedian has a very good chance of forming a new government, having done well in elections there. Can you perhaps see Russell Brand - or Al Murray - as our new Prime Minister ... or yourself launching your own political campaign to win a parliamentary seat?

2014 Party Political Broadcasts

There are many more examples, and details (+ an explanation of PPBs) in this post: http://citpol.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/party-policies-2013-party-political.html.

LABOUR

and another.

TORY/CONSERVATIVE

There are more, including spoofs, below the line

Is it alRight if there's no Left left?!

Use resources on this blog!

Your task today is prepare a presentation of around 3-5mins in which you report to the class on the views, ideology, policies, philosophy of one major political party - one from...

• TORY/CONSERVATIVE
• LABOUR
• LIB DEM (SLD)
• UKIP
• GREENS
• SNP

There is also an option to look at Respect, not a major party with significant hopes of large numbers of MPs, but they do have as many MPs as the Greens or UKIP at the time of writing (before a bye-election UKIP look set to win)!

NB: You will be logged off computers with 20 minutes left in the lesson, so print off anything you need by then, or email a PowerPoint to me (I'll put this on the board).

I would like your report to include some detail on the following:

1. PARTY HISTORY: Briefly outline the history of the party: how much time (if any!) have they spent in government; have they always been a major/small party or have their fortunes changed over time; who are some of their most significant leaders (or MPs); have they formed any alliances/coalitions at any time?
2. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES: Factual detail on how many MPs, MEPs (European Parliament), MSPs (Scottish Parliament), MAs (Welsh Assembly), MLAs (Northern Ireland Assembly) they have. Include the total number for each, eg there are 650 MPs in the House of Commons (Wiki). Comment if you can on this party's local standing - is this an area in which the party enjoys success? You could briefly discuss why when you come back together.
3. LEADER + 2015 ELECTION HOPES: Using at least one left-wing and at least one right-wing newspaper as sources (ask if unsure!) sum up/provide a flavour of how the party leader is viewed; find the odds on this party winning the 2015 election, and any predictions on how many seats they might win; what do opinion polls say?
4. POLICIES + IDEOLOGY: Using newspapers and/or the parties' own website, find at least 3 current/recent policies, and sum up whether these reflect a party that is right-wing, left-wing or even a mix of both! Think back to the findings and points from your own questionnaire results last time.

You can use a variety of resources on this blog to help with this task:

Darth Vader for President?

This brings to mind the growing protest over the census form (every 10 years the government sends out compulsory forms to track the demographics of the UK, including sections for religion) which has seen 'Jedi' become the 4th biggest 'religion' in the UK, rivalled by The Flying Spaghetti Monster. We also have the Pirate Party in the UK, dedicated to overturning digital copyright laws.
At the very end of the article, there is a sense of some seious politics amidst the theatrics:

The UIP was registered in 2010 and aims to create an electronic government in Ukraine, transition to digital media and offer free computer courses to all citizens.

Read the full article here.

UK Political Parties: a guide

The Wiki list

Most of you will know the names of the 3 biggest UK political parties, 2 of which are in government currently as a coalition while the other forms the main Opposition (their job is to respond to government proposals, although they will sometimes agree with these!).

There are many more, from small fringe parties or single-issue parties (UKIP being a good example) to parties which operate only in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, but still send MPs to Westminster plus the devolved parliaments/assemblies of NI/Scotland/Wales.

This link (see screensot, left) contains a list of many of these, including parties which are exclusive to some parts of the UK.

We will spend more time later looking at and comparing the parties policies, but for now you could use this website to compare the policies of some parties (from the last general election):

PocketPolitics guide. (you'd select the 2010 Westminster option)

Here's another lnk, whch looks only at the 3 main parties:

Here's a comparison of the policies of the 3 biggest UK parties, from C4's website. [on a PC CTRL-click links to open in a new tab, on iPad hold the link and select Open In New Tab, so you can keep this webpage open]

If you come across any useful websites/links on UK political parties, pass on details as a comment below and I'll add them to this post



You can use other posts and resources in this blog to help with ideas for your party, and we will return to this frequently. Use the links list you see on the right in the picture below (the post pictured has examples of posters from UK political parties)

UK Political Parties' posters, past and present

Using some of the links below, you can build a good impression of how party politics have shifted over time, for example the reduction in real difference between Labour and Tories as 'New Labour' moved to the free market, right-wing position of the Conservatives.
You can also decide for yourself whether or not these posters are actively misleading!

THE 2010 GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN POSTERS [GUARDIAN]

The Tories needed to convince sceptical voters they could be trusted with public services

Parliament and UK General Election Process in a Nutshell

You should bookmark this blog, and any other pages/sites you think will be helpful for your Citizenship exam.

1: Close the video list. Try the task until you get all 4 right

Click on this link, close the video pop-up menu once the page loads, and drag and drop the 4 answers, click reveal, and keep going until you go all 4 right. Use this information, and whatever you find by going on to the next step (just click reveal for each question), to write in your own defintion of the 2 main types of voting system on your worksheet.

Simply click each 'reveal'

Click here to go the page you see previewed right, with a 22min video setting out the process of the UK general election, and how our Parliament functions.


You can find many more resources on voting systems in this blog post, and several others in this blog!

Party Policies: 2013 Party Political Broadcasts

A party political broadcast (also known as a party election broadcast or party conference broadcast depending on the date of broadcast) is a television or radio broadcast made by a political party.
In the United Kingdom, political advertising on television or radio is illegal, but parties are instead allocated broadcast slots across the traditional terrestrial TV channels. On a given day, a given party will be allowed to broadcast a piece about five minutes long.
[Source: Wikipedia]

The major parties are granted opportunities to communicate directly to mass TV audiences through occasional party political broadcasts. As a form of advertising, these are essentially propaganda on behalf of a party, seeking to persuade viewers/voters that this party is the superior brand, the one they should vote for and believe in. These PPBs often focus on the alleged weaknesses or drawbacks of their opponents.
UK PPBs are fairly tame; its legal in the US to pay for political advertising, and many ads are savagely critical of an opponent. Critics of this system argue that, because of the huge cost of paying for TV ads and the fundraising required, this opens politics to corruption: wouldn't someone donating a million want something in return?

PPBs are easily spoofed too; this example twists the Conservative message into a very silly manifesto for delivering fudge and slaughter ...


Nonetheless, these short ads help to further your understanding of what the parties stand for.

Lets look at some examples...

2013 Tory PPB 12.4.2013
Having been out of power from 1997-2010, the Tories calculate that Eurosceptic policies and attacks on welfare will win the 2015 general election for them, and hope that their austerity policies deliver economic recovery, arguing there is no alternative after years of Labour overspending.


2013 Labour PPB 19.4.2013
After 13 years in government, Labour find themselves widely blamed for the economic disaster that kicked in in 2008; they seek to tread a fine line between attacking Tory austerity and agreeing to some of their economic policies and welfare reforms. Their central argument is on fairness.

Researching Party Manifestoes

A cynical rebranding or reflection of greener policies?

This is one of several posts with resources on the political parties - use the tags or links lists to find more, eg 2014 party political broadcasts; guide to UK political parties; party posters...

Over the course of the opening lessons in this strand you will research major parties' manifestoes and their aims. You will also go on to come up with your own new political parties, and we will hold a debate and election with these new parties!

below the line you will find links to the 2010 manifestoes, party websites and news sources on the policies of the following political parties: Tories/Conservatives; Labour (still the big two, but both struggling to win an overall majority and losing votes to smaller parties); Lib Dems (will they lose most of their seats in 2015?); UKIP (the wild card in 2015?); Greens (could take seats from Labour, + maybe more votes than Lib Dems?); and two fringe parties as further examples: George Galloway's Respect Party and the pro-piracy/anti-copyright Pirate Party

Use some of the following links to help you with your initial research (hold in the CTRL or CMD button when clicking a link and it will open in a new tab/window so you don't have to keep going back) - you can also look for more options yourself using key search terms such as (party name) manifesto and policy (or polic*):

TORIES
Tory website policy guide;
Tory/Conservative Party website: 'Where we stand'; [if it times out, try their homepage]
BBC guide to their 2010 election policies;
Wiki;

Voter Turnout: UK Democracy in Crisis?

The long-term trend is clear: fewer of us are voting.
Increasingly, the young in particular don't vote while older people do.
This is reflected in the policies of our major parties - in January 2014 the big 3 (Labour, Tory, LibDem) all seemed intent on ensuring that the pension would not go down, whilst proposing measures (such as scrapping housing benefit for the under-24s) that targeted the young.

Here are a few graphics to get you thinking, or just to help with research and reading on this topic. The hyperlinks for articles, where you can find out more, are included in the captions.

Turnout for these elections was at a ridiculously low 15% - are the other 85% represented?!

MOST will vote in general elections but not others, eg European elections

There are multiple reasons why some chose not to vote.