Knock! Knock!
‘Who’s there?’
‘Sorry to disturb you I’m canvassing for Stocksbridge and Penistone La …’
‘I don’t care who you’re for ….. you’re all the same you politicians …… just out for yourselves …. no honesty …. no respect for democracy …..’
‘So you won’t be vot….’
‘Don’t interrupt! You’ve knocked on my door … at least be polite enough to listen to what I have to say …. that’s your problem, none of you listen to blokes like me …… or women for that matter.’
‘Sorry.’
‘It’s a disgrace …. I didn’t vote to leave but I think the politicians should respect the result of the referendum – or resign …. but they won’t of course, they like their salaries too much ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. it’s just a rip off of ordinary people like us, poor bus services, can’t get a NHS dentist, long waits to see a GP ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. delays in benefit payments, pensions being pushed further and further back ………………………………………. What’s the point of voting for any of em? …………………………………………. Go on … what have you got to say?’
‘Sorry?’
‘No I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gone off on one like that …. But no-one listens to us …. But to be fair you have and I can see you’re not one of them … I actually respect you, out in this weather, doing their work for them.’
‘Oh.’
‘Go on, tell me what you think …. not that stuff they’ve told you to say.’
‘Where do I start?’
‘Oh just do Brexit ….. it’s what’s pissing me off most and it’s cold standing here with the door open, I haven’t got all day.’
‘Well ………. I voted remain …. because, despite real concerns about the EU, I thought that was the better option and I could never support the kind of Brexit that was being proposed by the right wing politicians who were leading the leave campaign …’
‘Bloody right, we ought to fill that ditch in that he says he’s going in … but your Labour’s no better …’
‘You’re the one interrupting now!’
‘Oh yes … sorry.’
‘Labour voted in support of article 50 and I have some difficulty with a straightforward re-run of the referendum despite the majority being so small , and I don’t agree with simply revoking the …’
‘Bloody Lib Dems , just lightweight Tor …. Oh …’
‘But equally I don’t think we should leave with just any old deal or no deal ….. it would be ruinous for the economy, public services and ordinary people – and we would end up swamped by the US ….’
‘So what should I do then?’
‘Vote Labour and see what you think about a leave deal that seeks to maintain trade, jobs, incomes and regulatory safeguards – and allows us to re-invest in public services and then vote whether to support that … or stay in the EU.
‘Hmmm …… give me one of those leaflets.’
‘So are you still not voting?’
‘I might.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Yeah I’ll be voting Labour but it all makes me so cross …… thanks for listening.’
Eleri
Good conversation
Phil
The importance of these conversations cannot be underestimated. People still believe in Journalistic integrity and feel that they are politically informed by the daily newspaper (and the ‘impartial’ BBC) forgetting who owns those papers and their motives. Don’t even get me started on social media
Bryan
Well, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to describe this as a conversation!
However, as you say Eleri, it was ‘good’ in that I think it will result in a much needed vote for Labour ….. and maybe he’ll tell his friends ……
You are so right Phil that face to face discussion on the doorstep can be a powerful counterbalance to media bias. You expect the right wing papers to be ……. well right wing, but we have been led to believe we can expect some balance from the BBC and some left of centre leaning from The Guardian. It is clear that neither of these platforms have been neutral nor helpful to the Labour cause. A key issue in this is the portrayal of Jeremy Corbyn in such a way that many on the doorstep feel able to say with some conviction that they don’t like him but struggle to articulate what they don’t like or why.
Media Lens is good on this:
https://www.medialens.org/2019/the-campaign-to-stop-corbyn-smears-racism-and-censorship/
To return to this particular doorstep exchange – without the bloke’s insistence that I owed him a listen I would have extricated myself from the situation asap and have gone searching for more fruitful conversations. All he wanted was to be listened to – and to be given a rationale for voting a) at all and b) for Labour!
Phil
I also hear people don’t like him without even reading his manifesto . It’s bonkers, as though they are voting on some cheap reality tv show. Thanks for the link. I will look over that later tonight.