New Alternative News Channel "GB News" chaired by Andrew Neil launching - read OP before posting

Don't seek false comfort in consensus.

Whilst there may be a veritable orgy of agreement on this thread, that's all it is - and nothing more.

GB News will thrive in the coming weeks and months, of that I have no doubt. And it don't require those present to agree with me to sustain my conclusion, who you refer to as "...the rest of us".

To quote Orwell's 1984:

Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. At one time it had been a sign of madness to believe that the earth goes round the sun; today, to believe that the past is inalterable. He might be alone in holding that belief, and if alone, then a lunatic. But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him.

This isn't an academic discussion where you create arguments and syllogisms in defence of a position.

I'm basing my belief on statistics in the first few weeks.

I believe that, based on almost 4 million viewers in its first month, in a rapidly growing social media family of accounts, through their excellent app, and through finding their feet with the new station - coupled with new shows and presenters, including Farage, that it will take some months to become a successful TV station.

I think the fool is the person who takes a performance in the first few weeks and translates that out into eternity. With that kind of cynicism, no business of any kind would ever establish itself. It takes time and, given the gestation figures thus far, I'm reliably confident that in 6-months from now, we will see the creature in full flourish, as it was intended. Clearly, nobody here has began a business from scratch. I have, and when you do - you'll consider matters differently.

Of course, I could be wrong. But let's wait and see.

And to those condemning the channel to oblivion, you should actively want the channel to succeed - if only to provide some semblance of diversity of political opinion. By hoping it fails (from the outset, and now throughout), it demonstrates a deep insecurity on your side. It's almost as if you do not want the opposing side to have a voice. So, silence it - hope it fails and mock its attempt to make the mainstream.

Again, this demonstrates a profound political insecurity.

That's precisely my point, that this thread is overwhelmingly in favour of GB News failing. You can disagree with the colourful language I used, but ultimately we are agreeing on the same thing.

Perhaps everyone here will be right - that the channel will be gone by 1 September and this thread shortly closed thereafter.

Fine, believe that if you wish.

But I just do not believe that will happen.

I'm not foolish enough to argue that all Brexit voters have a favourable vision of Nigel Farage.

What I would claim is that the vast majority would have a favourable vision of him.

If it weren't for Farage, there wouldn't have even been an EU Referendum.

It stands to reason that the vast majority will credit him for this development.

If it wasn't for Nigel hoovering up Tory votes, Cameron would have never buckled under the book form his own backbenchers.

It was the electoral hemorrhage inflicted by UKIP that ultimately turned the screw.

Backbenchers have been banging on about Europe since the late 80s. Nothing changed, except for when Farage came along and became a direct electoral threat to David Cameron.

That, coupled with the backbench threat you cite, is a much more accurate interpretation of the history.

We are talking pre-June 2016.

At that time, UKIP did indeed hemorrhage votes from the Tory Party.

You clearly are unaware of the history.

In the last General Election, Nigel Farage deliberately stood down from 316 safe Conservative seats so that he could precisely tackle the Labour side of the equation, to let Conservatives gain a majority.

You made the argument that "Conservatism is dead" a few pages ago.

During that election, Boris Johnson secured the highest Conservative victory since Thatcher in 1979 and secured 43.9% of the popular vote.

Conservatism is far from dead!