The Snell of Tear Gas

Seems that in the Stoke by-election UKIP has been soundly beaten by Labour's vehemently anti-Brexit Gareth Snell, despite Stoke having been called 'Brexit Central' due to the area voting overwhelmingly for it in the referendum and Tristram Hunt, the resigning MP being pro-Brexit. Is this down to the UKIP candidate being a grandstanding, deluded fantasist (an affliction peculiar to the many Kippers), the fact UKIP is viewed as one issue party whose issue has come and gone, or the real consequences of Brexit finally dawning on the voters? There's no denying Theresa May has drawn UKIP's teeth, but to vote for an ardent Remainer seems perverse, unless the tide is turning in Stoke.

Copeland voted to leave the EU by a factor of 2:1. The Conservative candidate maintains she voted Leave in the referendum and is prepared to tow the party line, but the fact UKIP was beaten into 4th position seems to show it as a spent force.

The extremes, whether on the left or right, are interested in 'the will of the people' only once. They use the will of the people as a key to take a snapshot in time and then freeze or pickle it by throwing away the democratic key and brook no further change of mind, thus denying what democracy is - a process, not a binary event.

Rioting French students are being tear gassed by police. It almost reminds you of the 60s.