It's vitally important to talk to our elderly relatives

Elderly people are way more likely to vote Tory than any other demographic (the reasons for this are complex and I've addressed them in another article here).

Obviously not all elderly people are Tory voters, but almost two thirds of the ones who turn out to vote are, which means that being old is actually more of an indicator of Tory sympathies than being stinking rich! 

Talking to our Gran/Gandpa/elderly relatives and asking them to think again about supporting the Tories might be absolutely key in stopping Theresa May and her bully boys from getting a parliamentary majority.

A quick quiz

Here's one potential line of questioning you could use to make them think about what they are actually voting for. Tell them that it's a quiz and ask them these questions (read them off your phone or print this article out if needs be) and get them to provide a specific yes/no answer to each of them.

1. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he had put together a shambolic uncosted manifesto that didn't explain where the money was coming from to pay for over 50 of his policies? 

2. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he was planning to scrap the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners, but refused to say where the means testing limit would be set, so loads of them would only find out if they lose their winter fuel allowance after the election is over? 

3. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he was fighting to help the Chinese government maintain control over the British rail network, British water supplies, and the British national grid? 

4. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he kept running away and hiding instead of debating his political opponents? 

5. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he was planning to take food out of infant school children's mouths in order to give his rich friends a big tax break? 

6. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he said he was going to put an extra £8 billion into the NHS, but when the experts looked into it they found that there wasn't a single extra penny above what thay already said they would spend? 

7. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he said that he would trigger a nuclear war by using nuclear missiles as a first-strike to attack other countries with? 

8. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he was planning to scrap the Triple Lock on pensions because it's "unaffordable" but somehow he's got a spare £70 billion to hand to corporations and the mega-rich? 

9. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if his manifesto included a policy of providing school breakfasts at 6.8 pence per child, per day? (ancillary question on how much breakfast they think they could make themselves for less than 7p)

10. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if his manifesto promised to scrap the Leveson Report into press corruption so that the newspapers could just carry on as if they had never hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager (Milly Dowler) and made her parents imagine that she was still alive? (ancillary question on why they think the press is so heavily biased in the Tories favour)

11. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he refused to rule out cutting even more police jobs, even after Manchester? 

12. Would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he proposed a policy of asset stripping elderly people who get frail and need social care, but he wouldn't come clean about how much he was going to take from them until after the election?

Once they've (hopefully) answered "no" to pretty much all of these questions, you can tell them that all of these things are what Theresa May is doing, and every single one of these things is opposed by Jeremy Corbyn.

If they doubt that it can be true then here are articles providing proof (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)

See what their reaction is when you tell them that all of that stuff is Theresa May.

If they say that they still want to vote Tory even when they know that, ask them why they would not vote for Jeremy Corbyn when they thought it was him doing those things, but they're going to vote for Theresa May when they know that she's definitely doing those things.*

Another approach

An alternative approach to making them question how bad Theresa May and the Tories are is to fill them with enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn.

• Tell them how Britain is spending less on infrastructure and innovation than any other developed nation and how Jeremy Corbyn wants to invest in better infrastructure for future generations.

• Tell them that you're really enthusiastic about Jeremy Corbyn's National Education Service because you think absolutely everyone should have the right to free education, no matter what their age or background, and that the more educated people there are in Britain, the richer the country will be for all of us.

• Tell them that they deserve to be looked after in their old age and that Jeremy Corbyn won't scrap the Triple Lock, snatch their winter fuel allowance, or asset strip their house if they get frail and need social care.

• Tell them that Jeremy Corbyn is a clever man who understands the value of arts, music and the creative industries, and how these things don't just enrich our cultural lives, but also bring loads of money into the UK economy too.

• Tell them that you really like the Labour Brexit minister Keir Starmer QC, and you think he's really clever and would do a miles better job of handling the Brexit negotiations than David Davis (he doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing does he?)

• Tell them that Jeremy Corbyn wants to look after sick and disabled people by investing in the NHS and scrapping the horrible demeaning assessments that Tories make the disabled people do.

• Tell them that Jeremy Corbyn wants to repatriate our rail services, water companies and national grid back off the Chinese government and run them for the benefit of the British people instead.

• Tell them that Jeremy Corbyn is really popular with the young people (68% Labour to 16% Tory) because they love his economic policy of investing for the future, rather than cutting, and cutting, and cutting until there's nothing left like the Tories. 

Show them stuff on your phone

A very high percentage of elderly people have no access to social media. Maybe showing them some video clips and infographics might help them see things from a different perspective?

Here are the videos I've posted to Facebook during the election: AAV Videos

Here are my most recent infographics: AAV Infographics

Offer them a lift

Perhaps one of the most important things you can do is offer them a lift to the polling station and talk to them about your enthusiasm for Labour's manifesto as you take them there?

Conclusion

I'm not sure any of these approaches will work because people often gut stuck in their ways, especially when they're old, but one thing I'm pretty sure of is that they'd be delighted that you stopped by to pay them a visit or called them on the phone, even if the conversation is mainly about politics.

Even if you fail to convince them to stop being Tory enablers, they're still your elderly relatives and they most likely love you a lot and really appreciate your company.

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OR

* = If they respond with rote-learned right-wing tropes about the IRA or nuclear weapons, here are the antidote articles if you can get them to look at them (IRA / Nukes), maybe print them off beforehand and leave them at their house? Maybe print off this one about Dementia Tax and this one about media bias too?