Some thoughts on yesterday’s events.

The other day a friend of mine posted a notice on Facebook that went something like this:

     “News Flash

This year’s general election will take place over two days.

If you intend to vote Labour, Lib Dem, Green or Independent, go and cast your vote on Thursday.

If you plan to vote Conservative or Reform UK, go and cast your vote on Friday.”

Today there was a notice from Facebook saying her post had been fact checked, found to be false and so was being cancelled!

How we laughed. Facebook has no sense of humour. 

And it’s all over. Labour has its landside victory but with rather fewer overall votes than in the last two general elections. Here are some figures:

2017 (Corbyn) 12,877,918

2019 (Corbyn) 10,269,051

2024 (Starmer) 9,634,399

They’ve still got more MPs. It’s all to do with our first past the post system.

Jeremy Corbyn, by the way, won his independent seat with a sizeable majority, sending a message to those who wouldn’t accept him back into the Labour Party. Other independent candidates also won seats. 

Various important Conservatives lost their seats. 

Nigel Farage now has a seat in parliament along with another 4 Reform UK MPs. Not as many as some feared but Mr Farage is still getting attention. Some are even suggesting that the Conservatives should perhaps unite with Reform UK but the general consensus is that it’s too soon to suggest such things. Some fear that Reform Uk could take over the Tories! 

France is in turmoil too, with Marine Le Pen thinking she could win after all. We’ll see that Sunday brings. And the USA is still in a mess. 

Meanwhile, the Murray brothers are out of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon. Mark Cavendish didn’t manage another stage win yesterday but he seems to be riding well. Pogacar remained in the yellow jersey yesterday. I’ve not yet seen any results for today.

We’ve had a fine sunny day and went out to lunch with an old friend.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!