Be Excellent To Each Other

The DUP are pro-union (not Europe but UK), pro-Brexit and socially conservative.
The party, which returned 10 MPs to Westminster, has garnered a reputation for its strong, sometimes controversial views.
It opposes same-sex marriage and is anti-abortion - abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland, except in specific medical cases.
One MP is a devout climate change denier, while a former MP once called for creationism - the belief that human life did not evolve over millions of years but was created by God - to be taught alongside evolution in science classes.

There’s fantastic results … but the Conservatives got 318 seats; that means they’re going to be able to form a government.

We haven’t won that election. He [Corbyn] did very well in some areas … but I come back to the point: we haven’t won that election. We shouldn’t pretend this is a famous victory.

Five years of a Conservative government: I can’t, I’m afraid, be a cheerleader for that outcome.

We accept that May was weak prior to calling the election, and got weaker as the campaign wore on. Her replacement will be stronger, and much better organised.

Corbyn started off weak, bit seemed to get stronger in the final furlongs. But, that's relative to a Conservative campaign described as a "pig's ear".

A massive turnout, which helped Labour, probably won't rematerialise a second time, and the SNP are settling in their normalised seat numbers. The Tory party can regroup, replan and come back stronger. Labour won't.

Chris Leslie, former shadow chancellor said on today (lifted from Graun):



And he is right, Labour are still in opposition, which'll keep Momentum happy, and I fear the Tory government will get stronger as we start a new chapter of Corbyn mishaps. I think it's great to laugh, and take the piss out of what turns out to be dreadful decisions by May, but, she's still top dog. We shouldn't be cheering second place quite so loudly. As Dom says in the philosophical 4 acts of The Fast and the Furious "It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning" and Labour hasn't won.

The Mail sells its world of pain based on fear. The attack it tried to sustain over a panicked 13 pages just looked hyperbolic. Instead, the warnings about Labour became ignorable rages. With May refusing to engage, unable to be spontaneous, Corbyn often just appeared pleasant and bemused. Having destroyed Ed Miliband, the tabloids took it for granted it could be done again with a few key words. Tax. Extremist. Terrorist.

The world has moved on. This is not only the end of austerity, it is surely the end of the hankering for Thatcherism that is still the lifeblood of the men who run these papers.

It matters significantly now that they are out of touch. It matters that their relentless negativity did not chime. In this one moment they are cut down to size: not fixers of government, not the high priests of the electorate but strange angry blokes selling seven varieties of hate while ranting to themselves.

Chris Leslie, former shadow chancellor said on today (lifted from Graun):



And he is right, Labour are still in opposition, which'll keep Momentum happy, and I fear the Tory government will get stronger as we start a new chapter of Corbyn mishaps. I think it's great to laugh, and take the piss out of what turns out to be dreadful decisions by May, but, she's still top dog. We shouldn't be cheering second place quite so loudly. As Dom says in the philosophical 4 acts of The Fast and the Furious "It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning" and Labour hasn't won.

The gutter press have less influence because young people don't just believe everything they read. No doubt in part due to being brought up on the internet.

He mentions credibility, which is a hard currency with McDonnel, Abbott and Gardiner in high profule roles in the shadow cabinet. The only one with credibility is Starmer, I think.

One of May’s most prominent attacks on Labour was that a vote for Corbyn was a vote for a coalition of chaos. There is a terrible irony in the fact it is now May who will be forced to rely on an agreement with the DUP in order to govern. Members of a party rooted in conservative Christianity, the DUP’s MPs are some of the most reactionary, socially illiberal voices in parliament. Anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion, the party counts creationists and climate change deniers within its ranks. Any alliance with the DUP would be at odds with efforts by Conservatives to shed their image as the nasty party.

May finds herself in an impossible position. She must respond to the electorate’s rejection of austerity and hard Brexit. There are moderates in her party who will demand it of her. But those to the right of her will try to prevent her from doing so. This election result calls for a far more open style of governing. There is a need to build a coalition in the Commons for a Brexit deal that puts Britain’s economic prosperity first: the obvious arrangement would be continued membership of the single market. Yvette Cooper’s proposal for Brexit talks to be led by a cross-party commission with the Brexit secretary at the helm deserves consideration.

Discredited, humiliated, diminished: May has lost credibility and leverage in her party, her country and across Europe. Where there was respect, there is ridicule; where there was strength, there is weakness; where there was self-assurance, there is doubt. She looks too weak to deliver her manifesto, too vulnerable to tackle dissent and too enfeebled to lead Britain. It is impossible to see her having the influence, authority or credibility to serve her country.

I've noticed few times that the Tories have referred to themselves as "The Conservative and Unionist Party"

Is this to placate the mobilised Celts?

I think I am going to sit back and watch this shit show unfold, as if it didn't have abjectly terrifying consequences, it'd be hilarious.

Watching House of Cards Season 5 was a lot scarier this year.

Oh, it's brilliant. You could almost film a cinematic trilogy, starting with Cameron in 2010 and ending at 22:01 on 5th May 2015, then the referendum farce and his defenestration, then ending on the premiership of Mrs May. I'd totally watch that.

Starring Mr Chris as John McDonnel,

Myp as Bing.

Could you BE anymore insulting?