Dismay !

Once again the free world has leaned that voting intentions are impossible to predict.  We were shocked when the " unelectable " Donald Trump was handed the keys to the Oval office and now the " unelectable "  Jeremy Corbyn came perilously close to taking up residence at 10 Downing street.

Theresa May took a gamble by taking the country to an election years before it was due.  She became prime minister when David Campbell lost the " Brexit " referendum and resigned and she needed a " mandate " to reinforce her authority in the negotiations that will take Britain out of the EU.   There was the expectation that she would romp home with a greatly increased majority.

The Conservative election campaign was dismal.  The prime minister refused to debate her opponents and several policies were swiftly cancelled and back tracked.  Much of the reasoning was based on Labor's return to the old discredited socialist strategy of re-nationalizing industry into public ownership.  A win vote was more based on a Labor rejection than a Conservative promise of better things to come.

In Britain voting is optional and young people are notorious for failing to turn out on voting day.  The pundits predicted the result on this pattern holding but the world recession was particularly hard in denying school leavers jobs and wages have slipped badly in recent times.  An avalanche of young voters liked the socialist utopia that Corbyn was spouting and for the first time they voted in droves.

Most likely Theresa May will hold office in a minority government backed by Northern Ireland's Unionists but she will be weakened in negotiating the withdrawal from the EU.   It will be harder to " sell "  unpopular measures to the British public and it will be easier for smaller political parties to create mischief when measures are debated.

Perhaps the greatest impact will be on world affairs.  In the latter part of the Twentieth century the Cold War was  shielded from Communist expansion by the American, British and French nuclear arsenals.  Donald Trump seems disinterested in leading the free world and Britain must soon decide on the costly replacement of its Polaris submarine fleet carrying its nuclear weapons shield - and France has a new and untried president in the Ulysses palace.   At the same time,  Russia is in an expansionist mood and China is promising trouble in the South China sea.

We seem to be heading into a realignment of world power. A number of smaller nations have shifted to illiberal forms of government and authoritarian presidents have gained office.  The one thing that can not be taken for granted is that previous voting patterns will automatically take hold.   We have had surprises in America, France - and now Britain.    We should tighten our seat belts in expectation of more to come !