Brett-Butler

I believe he would (although he died 10 years before they were formed), although I don't know how he'd feel about their absentionist policy.

If you're not familiar with the term, a "Portillo moment" happens when a leading or well known MP ends up losing their seat in dramatic fashion, named for when Michael Portillo lost his seat in the 1997 General Election. Some big "Portillo moments" that have happened in recent elections include Ed Balls losing his seat in 2015 and Nick Clegg & Alex Salmond losing theirs in 2017. So which "Portillo Moment" can you see happening in next month's General Election? I think it's a given that some of the well-known Labour & Tory defectors are likely to have a hard time retaining their seats - Anna Soubry is a given, but Chukka Umuna could also have something to cry about come election night. I've also seen some predictions that long-in-the-tooth MP Dennis Skinner, who would become Father of The House if he was re-elected, could lose his Bolsover seat. Skinner is one of the few Labour Leavers, which means that in a contituency that also voted leave, he could see his vote whittled down by two different parties.

As I might have said before (correct me if I'm wrong (as if that would ever happen)), the Conservatives showing a consistantly strong lead could actually backfire on them, as if would have the dual effect of a) spurring on Labour activists to try harder to win over converts to their cause (even though I feel they are not very good at making sticky emotional appeals), and b) leading Tories to metaphorically take their foot off the pedal and not try as hard, as they feel that they've already done enough to secure the majority, and enough Tory voters might think it's not worth the effort voting as victory is already guaranteed. Also, it's worth reflecting on how wrong I've been in predicting elections these past 5 years - - In 2015 I thought Labour would be the biggest party and enter into coalition with Lib Dems: the Conservatives got a majority - In 2016 I thought remain would win the referendum 52-48: Leave won by the same margin - In 2016 I thought Hilary would win the Electoral College: Trump won - In 2017 I thought the Tories would win a landslide: they lost their majority - In 2019 I thought the Brexit Party would win the European Elections: actually, I got that one right, although I'd underestimated how big the Lib Dem bounce would be. And now, given that I think that the Conservatives will win a comfortable majority, I can only conclude that this will mean that Labour will end up the biggest party (albeit not close enough for an overall majority).

Definitely, I grew up with the stories about what happened to him in the 60s and 70s from my mum, and how Ian Paisley directly led to his business being destroyed and him being imprisoned (one of the reasons that I could never in a million years vote for the DUP). He'd left Sinn Fein by the time I was born (he objected to its absentionism, among other issues), and as a staunch Catholic he definitely would not have liked it in its current form, but remained fairly well known in republican circles, as well as being a dedicated advocate of the Irish language. I guess that my interest in politics does come through him a little bit, although I'd never call myself a republican and have never been involved in any of that stuff myself - I'd say I'm more of an "apathetic nationalist" than anything else when it comes to the constitutional question of a United Ireland.

Just back from the cinema seeing Promare, the first feature film from Studio Trigger (Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia). It was absolutely fantastic - luscious visuals and a story that is very much in the vibes of Kill La Kill, there's so much going on on the screen at all times that you can't take it all in. Worth seeing if you get the chance.

I imagine its first week will be its biggest, but it'll still draw big numbers over the next few weeks. I think it's likely to be the #1 film until the end of the year.

I'd suggest the opposite - I believe the controversy over it being dropped actually helped its opening figures. I'd never heard of the film before it hit the headlines (and I listen to Kermode & Mayo, so I'm quite up-tp-date with what the big movies are), and the film has just got 100k of free publicity off the back of this. Banning a film gives it extra publicity, as there's a "taboo" around it, making it a must-see. such is human nature. I wouldn't be surprised if every cinema that shows the film in the next week will be sold out, with box office figures comparable with its first week.

I know a little bit, given that I'm from Northern Ireland and my grandfather was Vice-President of Sinn Fein.

The "Corbyn & the IRA" line was the main point of attack used against him in 2017 and it didn't work; mainly because Corbyn's main base of the under 30s were too young to remember the IRA's bombing campaigns, therefore linking him to them had no effect whatsoever, especially on the new voters who've come of age since that election.

If that is a Racnoss, that's one alien I never expected to make a comeback. I'm guessing that after not re-introducing any aliens last season, they've gone the other way and included a number of them (Judoon & Cybermen are there as well). The trailer is definitely more promising than what the last series gave us, so hopefully it's an improvement. Although as others have said, they really should've refreshed the companions for this series - I really think it would be better to reduce it to just the one permanent one.

I don't mean to alarm anybody, but there were six council by-elections yesterday. Three of them were Tory gains.

Unfortunately, it's not the Morten I thought it was. :(

A lot of artists are trying to make a pension pot.

I'll take 3

He also famously wouldn't have eaten sausage rolls (on account of the whole "King of The Jews" thing).

We displeased Jesus in 2018.

If I may ask a genuine question - if Jeremy Corbyn restricted access to those papers in the same way that Boris did to The Mirror, would you criticise Corbyn for doing so?

It's been used in an ad. Not sure what it's for, but it involves a lot of dancing. *edit* - it's . Given that every hedge fund has been shorting its stock, it needed a boost.

One seat worth keeping an eye out for is Ashfield. It has been held by Labour with a majority of less than 1000 over the Tories, although the favourite to win the seat is a member of the Ashfield Independent grouping, who’ve been successful on a local level. It’s also the seat where the Tory candidate made some rather unfortunate remarks involving tents.

It opened on a Monday and its first week's takings reflected Monday-Sunday rather than the usual Friday-Sunday, so its first week takings were overly-skewed, which is why the drop is more pronounced.

The difference is you can take steps to become less fat. I am not aware of any current work-out routine that will make you less gay. Don't get me wrong, as an ex-fattie I know how hurtful it can be to be subject to abuse because of your weight, and I would discourage making fun of someone's weight where possible, but it's not in the same category as abusing someone because of characteristics that you have no control over (I do understand there are those with conditions such as an under-active thyroid where that's not the case, but they're the minority).

In Anti-Semitism news, an activist who appeared in the Party Political Broadcast for one of the parties fighting this year's election has been suspended from her party after anti-Semitic tweets came to light. Have a guess what political party the person in question was from.

I've been asked on the doorstep once in the run-up to the 2016 Assembly elections (can't remember which polling company though). I'm also on the online panel for the LucidTalk opinion polling company (which is an NI-based polling company).

Just finished the first two episodes as well. Olivia Colman & Tobias Menizes have stepped into the roles of Elizabeth & Phillip really well, although at the moment I feel that Helena Bohnam Carter is just HBC playing Princess Margaret at the moment rather than being the character, although she was great in the 2nd episode. I wouldn't be surprised if there ends up being any commentary over how the plot about Harold Wilson in the first episode might draw some parallels to contemporary political concerns...

This is apparently every single party running a candidate in Great Britain, and how many seats they're contesting (doesn't include NI). I've a feeling that some have been overlooked, but it's pretty comprehensive at the moment - Conservative 631 Labour + Labour Co-op 631 Liberal Democrats 611 Green + Scottish Green 495 Brexit Party 276 Independent candidates 224 SNP 59 UKIP 42 Plaid Cymru 36 Christian Peoples Alliance 29 Yorkshire Party 28 Official Monster Raving Loony Party 24 Social Democratic Party 19 The Liberal Party 19 Animal Welfare Party 6 Advance Together 5 English Democrats 5 Libertarian Party 5 Workers Revolutionary Party 5 Renew 4 Alliance For Green Socialism 3 Gwlad Gwlad 3 Socialist Equality Party 3 The Independent Group for Change 3 The Justice & Anti-Corruption Party 3 Women's Equality Party 3 Young People's Party YPP 3 Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship" 2 Communist League Election Campaign 2 Communities United Party 2 Scottish Family Party 2 The North East Party 2 The Peace Party - Non-violence, Justice, Environment 2 The Socialist Party of Great Britain 2 Veterans and People’s Party 2 Yeshua 2 Ashfield Independents 1 Birkenhead Social Justice Party 1 BNP 1 Burnley and Padiham independent Party 1 Church of the Militant Elvis 1 CumbriaFirst 1 Heavy Woollen District Independents 1 Independent Network 1 Lincolnshire Independents Lincolnshire First 1 Mebyon Kernow - The Party for Cornwall 1 Motherworld Party 1 Patria 1 Proud of Oldham & Saddleworth 1 Psychedelic Future Party 1 Rebooting Democracy 1 Scottish Libertarian Party 1 Shropshire Party 1 Socialist Labour Party 1 Space Navies Party 1 Speaker seeking re-election 1 The Best For Luton Party 1 The Citizens Movement Party UK 1 The Common People 1 The Constitution and Reform Party 1 The Cynon Valley Party 1 The Universal Good Party 1 Touch Love Worldwide (UK) 1 Wycombe Independents 1