Be Excellent To Each Other

I wonder what Ruth Davidson, a lesbian, thinks of a potential coalition with the homophobic DUP.

AND, as the DUP works closely with Sinn Fein, are they going to be labelled as "terrorist sympathisers"?

From what I've been reading, the DUP is to the Ulster Resistance as Sinn Fein is to the IRA.

The DUP are endorsed by the UDA, who are loyalists. They power share with Sinn Fein but it's like if Labour and the Tories governed together.

There's the plot twist we need to round this all off.

I have literally NO idea about Irish government, or the UDA, UDP, IRA, Sinn Fein or whoever these people are, so someone will have to either explain in very basic terms about who they are and why they matter(ed) or tell me what to think in a straight manner without any kind of satire/sideways glances/mocking because otherwise I won't get it.

How are the DUP homophobic? Citation?
(I've no idea btw, genuine q. I have virtually no knowledge of N.I. politics)

They repeatedly vote against same sex marriage (as well as women's rights e.g. abortion) etc

They're all a bunch of cunts basically

My (very limited, see above) understanding is that the DUP are the Unionist (pro-UK) party of N.I. and, ideologically speaking, pretty close fit to the Conservative Party.

So in effect, the DUP are (more or less) the Conservatives' bedfellows, and indeed usually can be relied upon for parliamentary support anyway. What this means (IMO) is that the Tories have dodged the bullet of out-and-out Armageddon by the tiniest margin of, perhaps, 3 seats. Which explains why the Scottish +11 seat gain over the SNP is of such vital significance, and is literally the difference between a Tory and Labour/rainbow government moving forwards.

All IMO of course.

Do people like this still exist in mainstream politics? Incredible, really.
Do they permit women to vote?

Ireland, in many respects, mirrors the religious politics you get over in t'US.

So yes.

Ok from what I know it's like this, any Northern Irish people please feel free to correct me if I've got any of it wrong:

IRA (Irish Republican Army) are/were Northern Irish paramilitary republicans seen as terrorists by the British
UDA (Ulster Defence Association) are/were Northern Irish paramilitary loyalists (to the Crown) seen as terrorists by the Irish

Sinn Fein is a political party that is/was endorsed by the IRA - left wing nationalists a bit like the SNP I guess.
Democratic Unionist Party is a political party that is/was endorsed by the UDA - right wing conservatives.

They both power share in Northern Ireland as part of the Good Friday Agreement (the binding peace agreement).

I've just read that a candidate in Walsall lost his seat after 38 years. He'd been there since 1979.

Amazing! The longest I've had a job is 5 years....

How long do you think May will survive then?

There must be daggers out for her, Torys went from predicted landslide to hung parliament largely thanks to the way she was perceived.

Walsall North, yep. In Walsall South the Labour MP increased her majority, so feck off Northern Walsall.

2 more years until the Brexit deadline hits. She's going to coalise with the UDP.

Thank you. That has helped a little, but I reckon it'll all come good for my understanding over the next few weeks.

Has anyone seen any analysis of what happens to May's thin coalition majority in the light of EVEL and the reliance on Scottish Conservative MPs?

Define: EVEL

English Votes for English Laws.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/law ... lish-laws/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Loth ... l_election

Prevents Scottish MPs from voting on laws that only affect England and Wales. Designed by Cameron to shield the Commons from SNP influence. Now potentially about to backfire.

TEH TOREEZ

English Votes for English Laws. Under procedures introduced in the last parliament, bills with clauses affecting England only have a vote before the final reading that only English MPs can vote on. Of course, the new House of Commons can quite easily change this rule if it likes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2017/results/england

suggests that Ms May has a 65 majority in England

Ah, yes. You have to include Wales too I think, but it's still 51.

Surely the tories would have an outright majority if you only counted England or am I being thick?

Swivel-eyed Nicky Morgan calling for the PM to go in the "long term" already. Say what you like about the Tories but they're much better at getting rid of their unwanted leaders than Labour

No, I was being thick.

People that understand - if this was a FPTP election, who would have won?

It was, wasn't it?

It was a FPTP election. Do you mean PR?

Wouldn't the DUP really want a no border with the EU?

There's no single system of PR, but let's assume we're using the simplest and taking the UK as a single electoral area distributing seats strictly on percentage. The Tories would get 42.4% of the seats (274); Labour 40% (260). The Lib Dems would get 48 seats.

Other systems would allocate votes/seats differently and all have their own quirks.

So very different, and naturally people might behave differently under such circumstances.

These are the Tories' new buddies:

https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/ ... 1454678016

Meet the Conservatives new buddies: #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/IVo0aNxsFq

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) June 9, 2017

Yeah, I'm aware of the different systems, but as Grim... was struggling with the basics I wanted to keep it simple.

I've just noticed that Labour got the correct number of seats (ish) to match its vote share.

Oh, so they're the nasty party.

Yep, which is why even though Labour didn't win, to get 40% when the polls showed a double digit lead for the Tories even a couple of weeks back, it's an astonishing achievement.

My seat is one of the tory's safest ones, had a 16,000 majority. What was interesting to see was that Labour took all of the UKIP votes from the last election giving them a gain of 13%.

viewtopic.php?style=26&p=911073#p911073

50 weeks ago.

May speaking at No 10, she now sounds like an actual robot reading out lines.

EDIT - 'Friends and allies' in the DUP. Nice friends you've got there, Theresa.

A somewhat underwhelming speech from Mrs May delivered with little passion.

'The promise of Brexit': who comes up with this shit?

She didn't acknowledge anything that's happened in the last 15 hours! She basically just said "brexit keeps on keeping on"

She wouldn't stand a chance. It's Boris, Rudd or someone like Stephen Crabb.

It sounded like a speech given by an iPhone.

That, I suspect, is a big part of the problem all along.
No charisma = serious disadvantage. Corbyn might well have completely barking policies and a very tenuous grasp of economics (IMO) but he has charm and considerable resilience, not to mention absolute authenticity and, by and large, honesty. This stuff matters.

I don't know I felt quite reassured. I think she has the strength and stability to make sure that we're definitely all still fucked.

He also reminds most people of their grandad

You would have thought she'd have shown a bit of contrition and a willingness to reach out to those who have voted against her party this week. But no, full steam ahead and ignore everything that's happened in the last 8 weeks.

It was just a flesh wound!

I'm content now, I'm going to the pub.