Vocal Voices

The GE has only just been announced and already the parties are doing what they always do - pigeon holing us plebs. So which one suits you? The ever helpful Sky has given us a list of possibles.

Workington man
An average "middle England" voter - an older, white, non-graduate man from areas in the North of England with strong rugby league traditions which tend to vote Labour.
Essex man
The use of voter stereotypes as a targeting tactic dates back to at least Margaret Thatcher's repeated electoral wins in the 1980s, where the working-class "Essex man" switched allegiance from Labour to the Tories.
Mondeo man
In 1996, "Mondeo man" was singled out by Labour after then-leader Tony Blair recalled canvassing with a voter who owned a Ford Sierra car (which was later superseded by the Ford Mondeo).#
Worcester woman
Mr Blair's also trained his sights on winning over "Worcester woman" during the 1997 election campaign. She was defined as a working-class mother who traditionally voted Conservative but would consider voting Labour if it improved her family's life.#
Pebbledash people
Next came the "Pebbledash people" for the Conservatives in 2001 - middle-aged professional couples who live in semi-detached, often pebble-dashed homes in the suburbs.#
Bacardi Breezer generation
In 2003, former cabinet minister Stephen Byers urged Labour to reach out to the "Bacardi Breezer generation" of alienated 18 to 25-year-olds.
Holby City woman
Fast forward to the 2010 election and meet the “Holby City woman” - a female voter in her 30s or 40s who works in the public sector, cares about social issues and leans towards Labour.#
Motorway man
This epithet was imagined during the same election campaign to describe floating male voters.

Bless. I could be a bit of all of them and I already know who I will NOT be voting for no matter how many times they knock, post or pester.

My only comment on this subject
My wheelie bin is empty ready to chuck all my junk mail and leaflets WM
End of comment

Where's the Peeded Off With The Lot Of Them Woman category when you need it?

Kaz wrote:Where's the Peeded Off With The Lot Of Them Woman category when you need it?

In my wheelie bin kaz

Wild Card.

As Boris is about to find out when I explain to my Constituency chairman what Boris will have to do in order for me to renew my, just expired, Conservative party membership. The membership which bought me the right to be part of the decision as to who this current PM would be.

You cannot really pigeonhole Ossie into any of the above because he is, after all, just an Ostrich.

But the bird reckons his Latin avian genus is currently graviter offensus strutionum

…. which apparently translates as one seriously pissed-off Ostrich

1. It's pointless to vote, look how politicians have disregarded us these last three years.

2. It has never been more important to vote, to show politicians that we won't stand for a repetition of the last three years.

I'm tending to number two, just.

I find it telling that the political parties are still stereotyping us in the way Sky's article suggests.

What does not surprise but does bother me is that in the background the parties are using digital data to profile us in the minutest detail. The LibDems are using (unspecified) digital data to profile every voter and both Labour and the Tories are using Experian's consumer databases to do the same thing. All three have been warned by the Data Commissioner to "keep it legal", and just about all parties are using data to advertise on social media platforms targeting you and only you.

Sadly, for them, it is all wasted on me. I will vote my way and that will be based on looking at a whole load of issues as seen through the eyes of Double Decker bus, well done steak, Yorkshireman from Leeds man way.