Winners and Losers

LABOUR: (Also see under Losers): Labour is going to win says shadow chancellor John McDonnell. That positive view is also apparently held by union backer Len McCluskey who says he is "full of optimism" for what Labour can achieve and that the final part of the election campaign will "throw up something that is quite extraordinary" and that there is "everything to play for."

CATHY IN ABINGDON: So far during the general election campaign there have been few interesting encounters by politicians with ordinary members of the public, so Cathy gets a place in the winners' circle by virtue of the fact that the encounter happened at all. Cathy, who has mild learning disabilities, confronted Theresa May about cuts to disability benefits during a walkabout in Abingdon market. The Prime Minister listened, tried without much success to get a word in, and looked as if she would rather be somewhere else which, a minute or two later, she was.

STUDENTS: The loudest cheer of all at the Labour manifesto launch came when Jeremy Corbyn said that if the party came to power it would scrap tuition fees - not that surprising considering the launch was held at Bradford University. And the Lib Dems say in their manifesto that they will legalise cannabis, a policy which sounds like it was dreamed up by students (not that we would want to perpetuate stereotypes). Of course, such policies depend on these parties coming to power, so it's now up to students actually to vote.

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LOSERS

LABOUR: (Also see under Winners). Len McCluskey of Unite said in an interview that it will be a success if the party gains a mere 200 seats - which is less than Labour achieved in the 1983 wipeout under Michael Foot. However, after his remarks were widely reported and seized on as evidence of acceptance of inevitable defeat, his outlook suddenly became a lot more sunny.

PHILIP HAMMOND: Oh dear, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has received the "endorsement" of the Prime Minister, which sounds like something you put on the driving licences of naughty motorists. He also revealed - shock, horror - that he swears.

BEANCOUNTERS: Sensitive to the inevitable charge that its numbers never add up, Labour clearly went to a lot of trouble with its manifesto. There were costings all over the place. We know with great precision how much their plans will cost, down to fractions of billions. But the charge that the sums don't add up came anyway. Then Theresa May launched the Tory manifesto. Commentators and analysts who pored over it could find hardly any figures at all. It wasn't that the numbers didn't add up - there were no numbers in it in the first place.

BORIS JOHNSON: He upset some Sikhs by discussing Scotch whisky exports during a visit to a Sikh temple. Under some Sikh teachings alcohol is considered prohibited. It caused surprisingly little fuss. It is Boris after all.