LongTimeLurker

Looking more and more like the first bit is probable, because the Tory/DUP vs the rest minus the balaclava wearers margin is too large to be undone easily by a series of by-elections. The DUP will want to milk holding the balance of power for all it's worth so confidence motions aren't going to be a problem. Think May has two years minimum because the probable leadership contenders will want her to carry the bag on Brexit and after that she'll be ditched if opinion poll numbers suggest that they would get a significant popularity boost by changing leaders. Even at that point though, how likely are they to go early if the polls start looking favourable for them again after what happened this time?

For the duration of the parliament apparently so this could conceivably last for five years. Well done to Labour voters that voted Tory tactically in seats like Ochil and South Perthshire.

Says at the bottom, "Published by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster", so it wasn't really a DUP poster. There's plenty of valid reasons to have a go at them without making stuff up. Suspect the Tories and the DUP are waiting for the Drumcree parade and possibly the 12th to be out of the way before announcing anything.

They might even struggle in the Lowland League. If it was U23 as is normal on the continent there would be more for L1 and L2 clubs to be upset about.

You would enjoy Japan. They have lines marked out on the platform for each carriage and people do exactly what you describe at least on the inter-city bullet trains. Local suburban ones can be more of a free for all sometimes depending on the city you are in. Highlights of Japanese rail travel for me have also included helping an old drunk guy who stumbled over and managed to fall between the platform and the train and get wedged in as the female guard panicked hysterically over what to do about it and fending off the advances of two very strange gay guys in a city called Utsunomiya.

Not a problem for them if/when the SNP steer clear but the SNP often argue that Barnett Formula implications make a lot of what appear on the surface to be England/Wales only issues relevant to Scotland as well.

They can get things through when the DUP abstains, which gives them a bit of breathing space, unfortunately as we would probably not be facing hard Brexit otherwise. People voting anti-SNP rather than anti-Tory tactically in a Scottish context swung whether we would have a soft or a hard Brexit.

Not much gets done in hung parliaments usually in legislative terms and it doesn't always have to be the DUP that get them over the line. There's a niche available for the Lib Dems to step in if the DUP demand anything that's too out of kilter with the mainstream of British politics. They only really need the DUP on confidence motions and until Brexit is firmly settled with no special status for NI, I can't see Arlene Foster and co wanting another general election as that is absolutely critical for NI's relationship to the rest of the UK in the years ahead.

It is basically unavoidable due to the 1997 devolution setup.

Or more likely he did know and was deliberately misleading people.

Ignoring the people who are using this thread for low brow tribalistic wind ups at the moment, it looks like the Tories think they don't need to give the DUP anything to stay in power: http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/general-election/dup-talks-with-tories-have-not-gone-as-expected-1-4481319 Theresa May’s hopes of a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to shore up her minority government hit a setback, as the Northern Irish party warned that a deal was “certainly not imminent”. A DUP source told the Press Association that talks with Mrs May’s Conservatives “haven’t proceeded in a way that the DUP would have expected” and cautioned that the party “can’t be taken for granted”. In the final analysis all the Tories have to do while sitting at the negotiating table is say, OK then vote us out and take the chance you wind up with Corbyn handling Brexit instead, so maybe they don't have to concede anything substantial at this point to get their way for the next few years.

Think it goes deeper than that given there were three NI MPs that could be depended on to take the Labour whip on anything important up until June 8th. A lot of Labour lefties view the island of Ireland in very simplistic terms because they see it as having been a colony rather than an integral part of the UK, so even though Labour's welfare state policies would have benefited the Irish working class a lot more than de Valera and Fianna Fail's ever did that's pretty much the last thing you are ever going to hear a Corbynite argue as they would sooner virtue signal about their willingness to be anti-colonialist than push the virtues of having a good dose of democratic socialism implemented right across the British Isles.

That's the issue that probably swung Florida his way, so even though he probably knows it makes little sense, he goes ahead anyway. American politics as usual rather than a change on that one at least.

So not in the least bit interested in Frank McCoubrey, because you can only deal with me as a stereotype rather than respond to what I have actually written.

Confidence and Supply

...and on and on he drones with over the top exagerations. All you have to do to link the DUP to the UDA in a fairly convincing if not fully direct way is to explore the background of their candidate in Belfast West but why stick to something as boring as the facts when you can post absurd photoshop images and compare the LOL to ISIS.

Bizarre stuff like a lot of what gets posted in this particular subforum. If the pro-Remain wing of the Tories (Ruth Davidson included after what she said on the weekend) see the national interest as being more important than what's best in the short term for their party, then a hard Brexit won't happen. Not holding my breath on that.

Hard Brexit it is then apparently: http://www.itv.com/news/2017-06-15/dup-backs-theresa-mays-vision-of-brexit-not-philip-hammonds/ I suspect all the DUPes ultimately care about in all of this given the existential threat to Ulster Unionism that was involved is what happens at Larne post-Brexit as someone else (i.e. RoI/EU) can always take the blame for customs checks emerging on the RoI border. The future's Scheidt, the future is economic meltdown, but nothing short of EEA was going to avert that and that would be very difficult for the Tories to achieve given the numbers involved and how few backbenchers going over to UKIP it would take to unravel their majority when the DUP are factored in. We now need Ruth Davidson and co to pull the rug out from under this and insist on a soft Brexit but fat chance of that.

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/lower-leagues/eos-chief-expects-other-clubs-to-follow-kelty-into-league-1-4474667 “We had a few other clubs showing an interest, none more so than Bo’ness but, for one reason or another, it was only Kelty who formally submitted an application. But of the clubs who were interested, Kelty were much further down the line in terms of gaining their licence and they expect to have that in place some time this year. Guess it makes sense that Bo'ness didn't do it this year if they weren't so far along on licensing as that could have meant a season in the EoS when they had no chance of promotion, which would be difficult to explain/justify to supporters. Will be interesting to see if the LL adopts a self-preservation society approach to expanding the number of relegated clubs.

No obvious way to have a soft border with the RoI if that last bit is accurate, but EEA status would rip the Conservative party apart, so there was also no obvious compromise on staying in the single market and customs union either. Latest I've seen is another delay possibly into next week due to the tower block fire in London.

The same side as Simon, Nigel and Geoffrey.

So now it's an internal feud rather than a "sectarian shooting" of a dude called Colin in Bangor. Guess The Guardian story can be taken somewhat seriously, if they can keep that part credible.

Defensive about what? All I am doing is pointing out that you are posting complete drivel. There are lots of legitimate reasons to attack the DUP and/or the UDA without making stuff up.

They were upset about Colt teams getting straight into the SPFL, but not so upset if they join the LL instead. Not sure what doesn't add up, especially if as has been suggested elsewhere the LL clubs get an automatic promotion spot out of it.

The UDA just shot someone called Colin in a "sectarian shooting" in Bangor. Aye, OK if you say so. Having to run into paramilitary scumbags of various descriptions from time to time (wasn't it Dee Stitt rather than Jackie McDonald based on the pictures that were plastered all over twitter?) kind of goes with the territory for NI politicians. Has it even been proven that the UDA ordered this shooting or was it a petty squabble over the proceeds of crime related to recreational pharmaceuticals? Time will tell I guess.