deiseach

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But that's enough about Theresa May.

Anyone who watches her on whatever-the Beeb-are-calling-their-politics-show-this-week show will know she is smart and insightful. The problem is that she lacks the inate ability to bullshit her way out of a corner. This makes her a better human being than most of her peers, but it makes for a terrible politician.

If she believes all this is possible, I was too generous with the Hitler analogy.

Good plan. That should reduce her deficit from 230 to about 150.

At the risk of being accused of invoking Godwin, she is behaving like Hitler in the bunker, convinced that if she holds out long enough something will come to her rescue. Hitler expected the Allies to fall out with each other, just as Frederick the Great was saved from certain defeat when the Empress of Russia died and the new Emperor turned out to be an admirer of Frederick. And lo! when Roosevelt died, Hitler thought salvation had come. It hadn't, but it wasn't an entirely unreasonable hope given it was such a fragile alliance. Who she is expecting to fall off the stage to deliver her from her enemies, I don't know. Jeremy Corbyn?

I see what the problem is here. You're thinking rationally. The DUP should engage with Corbyn to ensure the entire UK stays within a customs union with the EU and NI is thus treated no differently to the rest of the UK, right? Win-win all round. Except the DUP are not rational. They won't engage with Corbyn on anything, ever. There are other reasons why they will reject movement towards a soft Brexit, but not engaging with Corbyn on anything, ever, is enough for now.

Neville Chamberlain resigned after winning the Norway debate by 81 votes. Theresa May has lost by 230 votes yet is blithely drifting along as if nothing has changed (to coin a phrase). Where the fuck are all the experts in constitutional precedents now?

I'm no fan of Corbyn, but he had to put in the no confidence motion. I know it's all theatre, but this is a case of not blaming the player and all that.

The DUP are not capitalists. They're feudalists. They don't want no deal, but if the alternative to no deal is not getting everything they want, they'll take no deal. As for the 'compromises' they made in the past, as lifey pointed out they were given no choice in the matter. It has always been thus with Ulster Unionism. They are completely at the mercy of Westminster, but rarely does Westminster ever call their bluff. Harold Wilson once labelled them 'spongers off Westminster and British democracy' - then did fuck all to put manners on them. Perversely the only ones able to do that are the Tories, as Labour have traditionally feared being labelled as 'soft on terrorism'. It was Edward Heath who prorogued Stormont and it was John Major who kicked off the peace process that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement. Theresa May could have told the DUP at the start of all this that the tail was not going to wag the dog, that any action they took to resist would have just led to Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10. Instead everything she did was with them in mind, and it still didn't sate them. There's no chance of her changing course now.

Steve0?

Such casual cruelty is why she ditched you.

I know it's verboten to say anything positive about Danny Murphy's punditry, but if there is one thing he knows what he is talking about it's taking a penalty, and I remembered his analysis of Lukaku's penalty miss in the Cup semi-final against Man Utd a few years back. He said Lukaku deliberately missed because deep down that's that what the Bitters wanted approached the ball too fast which made it difficult to make any adjustments based on the goalie's positioning, and there was a similar feel to Mo's penalty. He slung his leg at the target with all the grace of a wrecking ball. Even watching it knowing he had scored, I had a moment of panic at how sloppy it all was. Amidst all the micromanaging of sports teams, the extent to which taking a penalty seems to be left to chance, whether it be who takes it or the amount of preparation they do, is utterly bizarre.

B&M were originally BM, but then they opened in Liverpool.