Cornish Steve

Nope.

You actually benefited from being late!?

More than my job's worth, matey.

Not really. If one-third of the population chooses note to vote, they have absolutely no right to complain. Indeed, they should be dictated to.

Congratulations to MikeO for correctly predicting no Everton goals and a win for Sunderland. Managing to predict the correct number of Sunderland goals, I retain the lead for the month of May. Romey leads for the season. By being late (and therefore making no prediction), TonkaRoost managed to increase his lead for number of points per prediction. Talk about irony!

Boro won at Brentford.

This will be a test of just how much heart we have as a team. Sunderland will be desperate to win. Will we be?

From the perspective of pure self-interest, Labour had to campaign against Scottish Independence - because many of its MPs were from there. No Scottish MPs in Westminster, and Labour suffers (as, ironically, they have now found out). Since Labour no longer benefits from Scotland, the cynic in me says that they probably couldn't give a flying rip any more whether Scotland is independent or not. IMO, if the SNP can repeat its success in regional elections, then there will be another vote for independence - probably in 2016. It's like other issues: They'll keep voting on it until the inevitable outcome is achieved - only then there will be no way back. There's always been a split between the North and the South: The North (including Scotland) is more left-wing, whereas the South tends to be more right-wing. That is extreme right now, since SNP policies are more left-wing than even Labour's. That has to be a factor, too.

Rereading your post, isn't it a case of either voting with your head versus voting with your heart? I'm guessing that your heart is disappointed but your head is pleased right now. Looking at the results, there were only two things that really changed: the SNP wiped out Labour in Scotland (but their policies are not that different anyway - save about Scottish independence); and the Tories wiped out the LibDems in England (who were coalition partners anyway). So, things will just continue as they were - except that there's more ill will all round.

And if the government does this, can we honestly believe that the money saved would go toward fighting poverty?

It will take a while for Labour to recover because they no longer have any Balls.

I've heard a number of people suggest that the Labour leader was simply not competent to be leader, and, as a consequence, they were too scared to vote for his party.

By US standards, the Tories are rather like the Democrats. US politics is way more right-wing than anything seen in Britain - even the nutty UKIP.

Everton 3-2 Sunderland Lukaku

Because electronic voting can be much more easily manipulated. How can you prove that your vote for actually counted and applied to your candidate? With paper, you can demand to see. Personally, I have no problem with paper ballot sheets, despite being very much a technologist at heart.

Just seen some of the swings. A "safe" Labout seat, and they lose by almost 6,000 votes. The swing to the SNP is almost 30%. I've never seen such complete and utter domination before. SNP might actually win every single seat in Scotland! Absolutely delighted that UKIP are doing so poorly.

It looks like the financial and currency markets have made their prediction: very nervous right now. That must mean they believe Labour will get in.

I was probably confusing about this. My assumption is that Labour will get into power only as part of an alliance with the SNP, and SNP's price for that alliance will be tossing out all Trident missiles.

Maybe I can predict the outcome. Conservative 30% of votes (285 seats) Labour 31% of votes (270 seats) SNP 6% of votes (28 seats) LibDem 6% of votes (24 seats) UKIP 14% of votes (12 seats) Green 6% of votes (3 seats) Plaid Cymru (4 seats) DemUnionists (8 seats) Sinn Fein (5 seats) SDLP (3 seats) Other (8 seats) Tory/LD/Union/UKIP = 329 seats Labour/LD/SNP/SF/SDLP/PC/Green = 338 seats In other words, the LibDems, despite losing ground, will be king-makers.

Very interesting discussion, so maybe I can jump in. Before I left Britain, I was an approved parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. This was before the merger with the Social Democrats and the fuzzy, ever-changing policies of today's LibDems. The party then was a blend of libertarian, green, devolved power, and pro-Europe. I knew David Steel and, in particular, David Penhaligon (who was a great guy). At that time, we would consistently win over 20 percent of the vote but about 2 percent of the seats - such is the fate of finishing second almost everywhere. Most of the Liberals I knew then were trustworthy people, and a couple of friends from college were elected. Today I would give the LibDems a wide berth, and no longer am I pro-Europe. Parents? My father, in many respects (hate to say it, but it's true), was the kind of person not to aspire to: mostly illiterate, a dockyardee (as people near Plymouth would understand), and very bigoted. He voted for the National Front (for those in the US, the NF was a collection of racist bullies). My mother usually voted Conservative, but based solely on who she liked and disliked ("that man has a funny smile - can't be trusted"). She was big admirer of Maggie Thatcher. Today, I would be really stuck. If there were such a thing, I'd be a cross between Conservative and Green, with a splash of libertarian opinions thrown in for good measure. I'm for the nationalist parties (fellow Celts), but I am very much anti-Labour. They are for the big companies, not the little ones; for the unions, not the entrepreneurs; for bureaucracy and rules, not free enterprise. I have never trusted them, and nothing I've seen recently changes my mind on that. As for UKIP, I can't stand them. They are rather like the Tea Party in the US and offer little more than slogans - which, unfortunately, does sway some people. Thank goodness for the "first past the post" system, because they'll get few seats despite winning a fair percentage of votes. If I had to predict the outcome: the SNP will cut big time into Labour seats in Scotland, to about the same extent that Labour will gain in England. The Welsh Nationalists should do well, and I think the Green Party may create a couple of surprises. UKIP will be third in terms of number of votes but will win only a handful of seats. The LibDems will be decimated. It will either be a coalition of Conservative/Unionist/UKIP/LibDem or of Labour/Nationalists/LibDem/Greens. I would prefer the former (despite my disdain for UKIP), but I suspect the latter will win out. The US should fear a Labour/Nationalist coalition because they will immediately throw out all Trident missiles and make a point of standing up against America around the world.

I see what happened. I somehow combined your prediction with that of pete0. In the results above, his prediction is entered wrongly. I've corrected the problem.

You're right, and I'm sorry! For some reason, I didn't enter your prediction in my spreadsheet. Let me double-check everyone's prediction to be sure I didn't miss anyone else. Once I make the correction, it will be in the master spreadsheet and be taken into account in this weekend's totals. Apologies for that, and thank you for pointing it out.

I worked my first job at 10 - you lazy sod!

What do Januzaj, Sterling, Zaha, and Barkley all have in common? They star in a couple of games and the press suddenly believe they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. The reality is, however, that they are all young kids with potential. They all need to learn and to grow and to make mistakes and to prove their abilities, regardless of what the latest lazy pundit says. Some are pointing to Barkley being played out of position this season. I would say it's part of the learning process. I agree with the point made earlier about Henderson: These youngsters, if they truly do have potential, come good after their apprenticeship years. That's where Barkley is right now. I would expect to see him make a bigger impact next season and a considerably bigger impact after that. IMO, it would be foolish to sell such potential - especially when we're looking to build a younger team that can play together for the best part of a decade.

Of course! You're still clearly in contention for winning most points per prediction.