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Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected in Islington North. But after leading his party to a second election loss, the Labour leader also announced that he would stand down before the next campaign. Watch Corbyn's resignation speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMlqlJOjK48&feature=youtu.
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Election headlines (all 650 seats now declared) The Tories have secured a majority of 80, with a vote share of 44% - higher than achieved by any party in any election since 1970 Labour's 'red wall' demolished as Tories take 28 seats from Labour across the north of England, including Blackpool South, Darlington, Blyth Valley, Grimsby and Sedgefield Labour heading for its lowest number of seats since 1935 Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson, has lost her seat.
Will Boris Johnson get the majority he needs to 'get Brexit done'? Or has he followed in the footsteps of Theresa May?
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Given up on Chesterfield? Sir: Matthew Parris makes some interesting and accurate points about growing Tory support in the north and Midlands (‘The Tory push north will end in failure’, 7 December). He did not mention Chesterfield in his article, but it is a good example of what he talks about. It seems to me that the Conservatives have decided Chesterfield is a lost cause, even though it would on the face of it seem promising territory for them. With an average age higher than the national average and no university, it is one of those ‘left behind’ areas with a lot of traditional working-class voters who dislike Corbyn. A good local candidate and some active canvassing could at least have made a dent in Labour support. So what did the Tories do?
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Volcanic eruptions At least six people were killed when White Island, a volcano off New Zealand’s North Island, erupted. How common are volcanic eruptions? — According to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Programme, there are 45 volcanoes around the world in an active state of eruption. — Yasur, on the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, has been in a constant state of eruption since at least 1774. — Santa Maria, in Guatemala, has been erupting continuously since 1922. — In terms of distinct eruptions, Mount Etna on Sicily can claim to be the world’s most active volcano, with 219 known eruptions within the past 10,000 years.
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Boris Johnson stood for party leader as a One Nation Tory, he fought the campaign as a One Nation Tory and this is the agenda that has given him the largest Tory majority since 1987. Much is being made of the collapse of the Labour party’s vote, but something more profound is under way. The Tories are changing, and they have a message that was directed at – and understood by – a new cohort of voters. It has the potential to transform British politics. It’s wrong to say – as many do – that the phrase ‘One Nation Tory’ is senseless. Its meaning comes from Disraeli’s dictum, in Sybil, that Britain was divided into two nations: the rich and the poor.
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Home The nation went to the polls. Engineering works compounded the misery of passengers on the South Western Railway where the RMT union is holding a strike until the end of the year. Leatherhead was utterly cut off. Hundreds of Greater Anglia services were cancelled when a signals failure turned into problems with rolling stock. After 22 years, Virgin Trains relinquished the franchise to run the West Coast Main Line, which was granted to Avanti West Coast, a partnership between Aberdeen-based firm FirstGroup and Italy’s Trenitalia. All 27,000 chickens on a farm in Suffolk were culled after cases of avian influenza were found.
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Unclued lights are DWARFS.
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Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn clashed in a head-to-head in tonight's live BBC debate. The two leaders faced off in front of a studio audience for their final clash before election day.
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Keeping it in the family A study by the Middle East Technical University claimed to prove that the pronounced chin of Charles II of Spain and many of his Habsburg relatives was the result of marriage between cousins. Some royals who went even further: — Tutankhamun’s wife Ankhesenamun is believed to have been his half-sister. She bore two daughters who both died in infancy. — King Rama V of Siam (1868-1910), also known as Chulalongkorn, is reputed to have had 77 children with 92 different consorts, four of whom were his half-sisters. — Princess Nahienaena of Hawaii (1815-1836) bore a daughter with her brother, Prince Kauikeaouli. The baby died.
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Look closer to home Sir: In your interview with Boris Johnson (‘Austerity was not the way forward’, 30 November) he attributes the EU referendum result to ‘regional inequality… parts of the UK were simply being ignored… leaving people behind’. Yet he says his remedy for this is ‘infrastructure and education and technology’. In other words, people voted Leave for reasons that had nothing to do with the EU: they were ‘left behind’ because of the austerity policies of the British government. The remedy he identifies is also entirely within the power of our own government.
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Next week, voters will decide the future of the government, of Brexit, and perhaps of the Union. Jeremy Corbyn has been admirably clear on what he offers: a radical experiment in far-left economics, going after the wealthy to fund the biggest expansion of government ever attempted in this country. Boris Johnson proposes to complete Brexit and restore much-needed stability to government. But given that about half of voters still oppose Brexit, the race is close. Corbyn offers a new referendum on Brexit. It is easy to snigger at his declaration that he would be neutral during this campaign. But his pledge to be an ‘honest broker’ conceals the deceit that his referendum represents.
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Home Usman Khan, aged 28, out of prison on licence after serving eight years of a 16-year sentence for preparing acts of terrorism, stabbed to death Jack Merritt, aged 25, and Saskia Jones, aged 23, at Fishmongers’ Hall and wounded three others before being stopped on London Bridge by members of the public and shot dead by police. A Polish kitchen worker called Lukasz Koczocik tried to disarm him with a pole; another man grabbed a narwhal tusk from the wall at the hall where Khan had been attending a conference on rehabilitation while a third let off a fire extinguisher to distract him from further bloodshed. One man who pursued the killer was said to be a murderer present at the conference.
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The unclued lights, including the pair at 35/28, are CAKES.
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From our UK edition
Next week, voters will decide the future of the government, of Brexit, and perhaps of the Union. Jeremy Corbyn has been perfectly clear on what he offers: a radical experiment in far-left economics, going after the wealthy to fund the biggest expansion of government ever attempted in this country. Boris Johnson proposes to complete Brexit and restore much-needed stability to government. But given that about half of voters still oppose Brexit, the race is close. The prospect of Jeremy Corbyn in government - and all that this implies - is all too real. And it might become so if those who oppose him do not actively vote against him next week.
Andrew J. Bacevich I have reached the age when it seems important to give attention to the books I ought to have read long ago but skipped past. As an American born in the middle of the 20th century, I’m drawn to the literature of that era. Lately, I have been reading for the first time John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, $18), published during the Great Depression. Of course, I have seen John Ford’s gripping interpretation of the novel, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. It’s a great movie. In my estimation, the novel itself is also a masterpiece. Of course, it is necessarily a product of its time, saturated with a sentimental depiction of those dispossessed by massive economic upheaval.
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Boris Johnson appeared on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. Marr grilled the Prime Minister on everything from NHS spending to Andrew Neil. Read the full transcript here: Andrew Marr: Simple question to start with, how could such a man be released onto the streets of Britain after serving only eight years? My final guest this morning is the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. How could it happen, Boris Johnson? Boris Johnson: Well, I'm afraid that when you look at the case, there are a number of conclusions that one can immediately draw. And that is, of course, first of all, Andrew, that I pay tribute to the emergency services, the reaction of the police, the public. Our sympathies, of course, are with the victims and their families.
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