A very funny man…but didnt he let himself (and the REMAIN side down) on Question Time last night. Wearing the same shade of lipstick and that pink beret with the British Flag that he wore when debating Sammy Wilson (DUP) in Belfast last week…he seemed programmed to shock rather than seriously debate.
That pink beret with the Union Jack button does nothing for him. He just looks like a transgendered member of Ulster Resistance from the Ulster Hall thirty years ago.
Sitting beside Nigel Farage (UKIP), Eddie Izzard performed the near impossible act of making Nigel seem more reasonable. Eddie came across as simply boastful that in embracing in proclaiming his transgendered nature and running marathons, he was a beacon of light in a horrible world.
Worse…..he simply miscalculated the studio audience. He was more bigoted than any closet racist who intends to vote LEAVE. And tactically he got it wrong…he didnt seem to realise that the LEAVE campaign is a coalition and yet he only seemed to see them as “Little Englanders” or worse.
Nor did he seem to realise that nationalists in Scotland and Wales are part of the REMAIN coalition. While a consequence of a LEAVE vote may be the break up of the “United Kingdom”, and it is completely valid for British people who love their nation to worry about this, it is equally valid for Scottish and Welsh people who love their nation to promote nationalism.
Shockingly Eddie Izzard managed to offend his coalition partners as much as he offended his enemies. And he managed to offend neutrals and fence-sitters. A very curious performance.
WHY did he do this? Well….simply he knows no other way. He is a performance artist and a luvvie who lives in an artistic bubble. He is probably ….in his own view of himself….the most sophisticated person in Britain. And he is dismissive of people who are not sophisticated.
As I wrote last week…..the Referendum is in part a contest between the Sophisticated and the Unsophisticated.
Keeping An Eye On the Czar of Russia 
I thought Martina Anderson did a very good job for REMAIN on The View.
You surprise me.
Its not like you to say nice things about a Sinn Féin politician.
I think he tended to dismiss the Brexit people as “little Englanders” and I noticed one woman taking him on for doing that.
He was simply arrogant.
I think Eddie I might turn off traditional labour voters as he seems out of touch with their worries and perhaps dressing like that makes him seem too Islington.
Labour could end up as divided as the Tories. All the focus has been on the Tories tearing themselves apart but as you note “Islington”is very different from Leeds.
This has happened before. I used to think the north of England as Labour heartland and London to be “bedsit” Labour.
Also Eddie never actually seemed to answer the question but instead rabbits on about being transcended and runninga rations and attacking far age. I think he doesn’t control himself enough and just becomes emotional. I guess at least he cares.
Marathons not ration’s.
I didnt see it as “caring”. He seemed as intolerant as any right winger.
I dont have any problem with his transgender but he seemed to think that it was better than any other identity. The marathon thing just irritated the audience….going to France to talk to French people in French and going to Germany to talk to German people in German….silly nonsense which just highlighted that he is more priveleged than the man who is working for Sports Direct and the woman who is a pensioner with British Home Stores.
He really sounds like a bully, shouting over the top of people.
Either he’s very thick or lives in a wee bubble but when he started blaming the tories for austerity he was neglecting to blame the EU as well. The Eurovision must be all that matters to him. And to hear him you’d swear EU countries havnt been involved in conflicts since ww2.
They have certainly been involved in conflicts all over the world….Vietnam, Kenya, Cyprus, Malvinas, Aden, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria…..
I see Ken Livingstone’s sparring partner John Mann has come out for leaving the EU.His given reason “free movement of labour, immigration and empowerment”. And Dennis Skinner has come out for exit as well.
And George Galloway too, who is a traditional scot. I wonder about Ken though?
Livingstone had a Scottish father and brought up as Anglican.
Two very different people and different motives. Skinner I always assumed was a LEAVER.
John Mann seems motivated by anti Corbyn feeling. I thiink he might end up defecting from Labour. He seems on a mission to destroy.
Where would he go? Who would have him? He is right wing but is he right wing enough for the Tories under Boris? The Liberals would not take him as they are pro Arab.
I think he would happily spend the next four years as a maverick and supplementing his salary writing for the Daily Mail and generally sniping.
There is a tradition of Labour people being too right wing…Desmond Donnelly, Reg Prentice (the latter even became a Tory Minister under Thatcher).
Maybe he is thinking about being an Independent MEP. Certainly he might think there is enough anti-migrant votes in north of England to tap into that …without actually joining UKIP.
Being a LEAVER burns his bridges with the the likes of Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall who are anti-Corbyn.
Like I say, the Labour Party is divided and the Westminster Party (both wings) seem out of touch with Labour voters.
Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?
Weighted for turnout
Remain 45 per cent 49 per cent
Leave 55 per cent 51 per cent
Headline Figure (not weighted for turnout)
Now April
Remain 47 per cent 50 per cent
Leave 53 per cent 50 per cent
What people think the result will be (average prediction)
Remain 52 per cent
Leave 48 per cent
How much of a risk do you think leaving the EU would pose?
A great deal of risk 26 per cent
Some risk 55 per cent
No risk at all 19 per cent
When considering how to vote, the economy is a bigger issue than immigration
Agree 52 per cent
Disagree 37 per cent
Don’t know 11 per cent
Whether we decide to leave the EU or to remain, the result won’t have much impact on my daily life
Agree 40 per cent
Disagree 44 per cent
Don’t know 17 per cent
I feel the campaign so far has been too negative
Agree 69 per cent
Disagree 15 per cent
Don’t know 15 per cent
Lucid Talk figures?
Theres definitely a drift towards LEAVE. The English certainly have a gut feeling which seems increasingly being added to by disgust at the campaign itself.
Itsnot so much the political programmes with the “reasoned” intellectual debate….or the likes of young people at universities.
People are increasingly angry about the Referendum itself, they dont have the skills (and I think they are right) to make an informed decision based on Lies and Scare-mongering.
In this sense, the ten minutes slot on GOGGLEBOX last night….watching some families watching the debate…was actually more informative than any political programme witn Andrew Neil or DAvid Dimbleby.
Nobody is thanking Cameron for his negotiating skills to REMAIN or for the Referendum itself.
Cameron is detested…and a lot of Labour voters dont want to bail him out.
I think it can go either way. A REMAIN vote will be without any enthusiasm and will be as “damaging” as LEAVE.
The advantage of the REMAIN campaign is that even if you detest Camerons wing of the Tory Party, there are heavyweights from SNP and Labour….
The disadvantage in LEAVE is that apart from Boris Johnson, increasingly a buffoon who has probably blown his chances of #10….the rest….Gove, Galloway, Farage, Villiers….are not real heavyweights or are regarded as “mavericks”.
In a perfect world, a Referendum would be a choice between two positions.
But this is no such thing. There was even a brief discussion on Newsnight last night about how the European football….England doing well or badly ….could affect the result.
It really is that bad.
http://m.newsletter.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-news/new-poll-catholic-voters-in-northern-ireland-moving-from-remain-to-leave-1-7435854
I am not so sure. There will be a headline in any poll. I myself am on the “panel” for another poll …Lucid Talk.
My gut feeling is that there is REMAIN, LEAVE, UNDECIDED and WONT VOTE.
But there is an important fifth cateogory of “DECIDED MORE THAN ONCE” (ie people who change their minds) ….a lot of people …a LOT of people ….who would vote REMAIN next Thursday and LEAVE on Friday.
More so than in any election. I have ever seen, people are changing their minds (thats a different dynamic than the normal “undecided”.
Have you noticed this among Friends, Family, Co-Workers?
This might push a few back into the remain camp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-36564182
You can say that again.
With just two days to go before the referendum, one poll gave Remain a seven-point lead – while another handed a two-point boost to Leave.
Tory election guru Sir Lynton Crosby said the up-and-down polls showed the referendum will “truly come down to the wire.”
An ORB poll of 800 people for the Telegraph showed 53% of people who will definitely vote would chose Remain, compared to 46% for Leave.
Among all voters Remain had a smaller two-point lead of 49% to 47% for Leave.
A separate YouGov online poll of 1,652 people for The Times put Leave two points ahead on 44%, with Remain on 42%.
The survey, carried out on June 17-19, found more voters distrust George Osborne over the vote (73%) than Nigel Farage (63%).
Some 64% of Labour voters said they wanted to remain while 26% said they wanted to leave.
My gut feeling is REMAIN will win