Very well said, as ever, Richard. Thank you.

Sadly, it will barely merit a mention outside Irish circles. On the TV news in Portugal this morning (three different channels) the Irish election was never even alluded to.

I love the sound of it: very Tolkien! Are you familiar with 'widdershins' (primarily but not solely Scottish, probably derived from roots related to the German 'wider' = against and 'Sinn' = direction), meaning counterclockwise? It loses in transparency if used in English, but gains expressiveness.

This is Lanchonete, my cute little cat. Her name is the Brazilian Portuguese word for a snack bar or cheap restaurant. She enjoys eating, but she is still as small as a kitten! I challenge you not to fall in love with her. She is great fun, but totally unpredictable.

AARGGH!

As we'd say in Scotland, 'Michelle Mone, you're tea's out'. Now let us see her stripped of her title - and the Tories asked why exactly she was ever raised to the House of Lords.

'If you have bodycams on you, then turn them off'. Says it all.

Maybe don't regard the Lib Dems and the Greens as a 'threat' then? Your language is looking at this in terms purely of party gain. The threat is from Fascism. Combat that, and the UK can still construct a country with more reasonable politics. Do not treat these three parties as being all the same.

So no excuse for Greece and Italy then?

Calling it 'Britcard', and you're offended? Just imagine how that will go down in West Belfast!

Oh, the one on the left looks just like my dear old Mr. Cat, who passed away last year. If I was in Ireland, maybe I would want to adopt him. I hope you find someone for the two of them.

Happy anniversary to you tomorrow! And enjoy the Verboten beer (in the same way as Homer Simpson relished his 'forbidden bacon') :-).

Get your voice back soon, hen! You don't sound great.

I agree with you in that the consequences for the random victims of ICE personally are far worse than for Jimmy Kimmel. But the real point about his case is the silencing of all dissent, of the far-reaching voices that could talk about things like abuses of power by ICE. We need to condemn both.

Brilliant! Well done!

Indeed. Very worrying indeed.