title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The question of a proposed Scottish independence referendum was also thought likely to influence the campaign in Scotland. On 28 March 2017, the Scottish Parliament approved a motion requesting that Westminster pass a Section 30 order giving the Parliament the authority to hold a second independence referendum, suggesting that there had been a "material change of circumstances" since the independence referendum in 2014 as a result of Britain's vote to leave the EU and Scotland's vote to remain. The SNP hoped to hold a second independence referendum once the Brexit terms a


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: were clear but before Britain left the EU; May said her government would not approve an independence referendum before Brexit negotiations had finished. After the final results were announced the SNP had lost 13% of the Scottish vote and one third of their seats - leading Sturgeon to conclude that, "Undoubtedly the issue of an independence referendum was a factor in this election result, but I think there were other factors as well".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Labour was thought to have attracted a significant number of student voters with its pledge to abolish tuition fees, which stands at £9,250 a year in England, and bring back student grants.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Although Labour and the Liberal Democrats both rejected election pacts with each other and with the Greens and the SNP, and although the Liberal Democrats ruled out a coalition deal with the Conservatives, the Conservatives campaigned on the proposition that such deals might nevertheless occur, using the phrase "coalition of chaos". Similar messages against a potential Lib–Lab pact were credited with securing a Conservative win in the 1992 and 2015 elections. On 19 April, May warned against a Labour–SNP–Lib Dem pact that would "divide our country". After the hung result led the Conservatives to seek DUP support for a minority government, this rhetoric was mocked by opponents.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: May launched the Conservative campaign with a focus on Brexit, lower domestic taxes and avoiding a Labour–SNP-Lib Dem "coalition of chaos", but she refused to commit not to raise taxes. On 30 April, May stated that it was her intention to lower taxes if the Conservatives won the general election, but only explicitly ruled out raising VAT. May reiterated her commitment to spending 0.7% of GNI on foreign aid.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: May hired Lynton Crosby, the campaign manager for the Conservatives in the 2015 general election, as well as former President of the United States Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina. The Conservative campaign was noted for the use of targeted adverts on social media, in particular attacking Corbyn. The repeated use of the phrase "strong and stable" in the Conservatives' campaigning attracted attention and criticism. Some expressed concern that the party may have restricted media access to the prime minister. While some speculated that an investigation into campaign spending by the Conservatives in the 2015 general election was a factor behind the snap election, on 10 May the Crown Prosecution Service said that despite evidence of inaccurate spending returns, no further action was required.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 7 May the Conservatives promised to replace the 1983 Mental Health Act, to employ an additional 10,000 NHS mental health workers by 2020 and to tackle discrimination against those with mental health problems. May indicated that the Conservatives would maintain their net immigration target, and promised to implement a cap on "rip-off energy prices", a policy that appeared in Labour's 2015 manifesto. May indicated she would permit a free vote among Conservative MPs on repealing the ban on fox hunting in England and Wales. On 11 May the Conservatives promised above-inflation increases in defence spending alongside its NATO commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In a speech in Tynemouth the next day, May said Labour had "deserted" working-class voters, criticised Labour's policy proposals and said Britain's future depended on making a success of Brexit. On 14 May the Conservatives proposed a "new generation" of social housing, paid from the existing capital budget, offering funding to local authorities and changing compulsory purchase rules. The following day May promised "a new deal for workers" that would maintain workers' rights currently protected by the EU after Brexit, put worker representation on company boards, introduce a statutory right to unpaid leave to care for a relative and increase the National Living Wage in line with average earnings until 2022. The proposals were characterised as an "unabashed pitch for Labour voters"; however Labour and the GMB trade union criticised the government's past record on workers' rights.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Unveiling the Conservative manifesto in Halifax on 18 May, May promised a "mainstream government that would deliver for mainstream Britain". It proposed to balance the budget by 2025, raise spending on the NHS by £8bn per year and on schools by £4bn per year by 2022, remove the ban on grammar schools, means-test the winter fuel allowance, replace the state pension "triple lock" with a "double lock" and require executive pay to be approved by a vote of shareholders. It dropped the 2015 pledge to not raise income tax or national insurance contributions but maintained a commitment to freeze VAT. New sovereign wealth funds for infrastructure, rules to prevent foreign takeovers of "critical national infrastructure" and institutes of technology were also proposed. The manifesto was noted for its intervention in industry, lack of tax cuts and increased spending commitments on public services. On Brexit it committed to leaving the single market and customs union while seeking a "deep and special partnership" and promised a vote in parliament on the final agreement. The manifesto was noted for containing similar policies to those found in Labour's 2015 general election manifesto.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The manifesto also proposed reforms to social care in England that would raise the threshold for free care from £23,250 to £100,000, while including property in the means test and permitting deferred payment after death. After attracting substantial media attention, four days after the manifesto launch, May stated that the proposed social care reforms would now include an "absolute limit" on costs in contrast to the rejection of a cap in the manifesto. She criticised the "fake" portrayal of the policy in recent days by Labour and other critics, who had termed it a "dementia tax". "Evening Standard" editor and former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne called the policy change a "U-turn".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The Conservative Party manifesto at the 2017 general election proposed repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Corbyn launched the Labour campaign focusing on public spending, and argued that services were being underfunded, particularly education. Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, stated that the party would replace the existing Brexit white paper with new negotiating priorities that emphasise the benefits of the single market and customs union, that the residence rights of EU nationals would be guaranteed and that the principle of free movement would have to end. Corbyn emphasised Labour's support for a "jobs-first Brexit" that "safeguards the future of Britain's vital industries".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Labour proposed the creation of four new bank holidays, marking the feast days of the patron saints of the United Kingdom's constituent nations. On 27 April the party pledged to build 1 million new homes over five years. Labour's proposal to employ 10,000 new police officers was overshadowed when Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott cited incorrect figures in a widely publicised gaffe in an LBC interview on 2 May on how it would be funded. Labour later stated that the £300 million cost would be funded by reversing cuts to capital gains taxes, although it was noted that the party had also pledged some of those savings towards other expenditure plans.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 7 May, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell ruled out rises in VAT and in income tax and employee national insurance contributions for those with earnings below £80,000 per year. The following day Labour outlined plans to ban junk food TV adverts and parking charges at NHS hospitals. Labour promised an additional £4.8 billion for education, funded by raising corporation tax from 19% to 26%.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: A draft copy of Labour's manifesto was leaked to the "Daily Mirror" and "The Daily Telegraph" on 10 May. It included pledges to renationalise the National Grid, railways, and the Royal Mail and create publicly owned energy companies. The draft was noted for including commitments to workers' rights, a ban on fracking, and the abolition of university tuition fees in England. The draft manifesto included a commitment to the Trident nuclear deterrent, but suggested a future government would be "extremely cautious" about using it. The next day Labour's Clause V meeting endorsed the manifesto after amendments from shadow cabinet members and trade unions present.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In a speech at Chatham House on 12 May, Corbyn set out his foreign policy, saying he would reshape Britain's foreign relations, avoid the use of nuclear weapons, and while Labour supported Trident renewal he would initiate a defence review in government. Corbyn stated that he would halt all weapons sales from the UK to Saudi Arabia citing the violations of human rights in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. After the 2017 London Bridge attack, Corbyn said that a conversation should take place "with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that have funded and fuelled extremist ideology".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 14 May, Labour revealed plans to extend stamp duty by introducing a financial transactions tax, which McDonnell claimed would raise up to £5.6bn per year. The next day Corbyn set out plans to spend £37bn on the NHS in England over a five-year parliament, including £10bn on IT upgrades and building repairs.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Launching its manifesto officially on 16 May, Labour revealed it would nationalise the water industry, provide 30 hours per week of free childcare for two- to four-year-olds, charge companies a levy on annual earnings above £330,000, lower the 45p income tax rate threshold to £80,000 per year, and reintroduce the 50p tax rate for those earning more than £123,000 per year. Labour said it would raise an additional £48.6bn in tax revenue per year and insisted its policies were fully costed, though it was noted no costings were provided for its nationalisation pledges. Compared to the leaked draft, the manifesto was noted for toughening Labour's position on defence and Trident, confirming that outside the EU free movement would have to end, qualifying support for airport expansion, and clarifying the party's stance on Israel-Palestine, as well as other changes. After initial confusion, Labour clarified it would not reverse the government's freeze on most working-age benefits.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In an interview following the manifesto launch, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said victory for Labour in the general election would be "extraordinary" and that winning just 200 seats (compared to 229 seats held at the time) would be a "successful" result; the following morning he clarified he was now "optimistic" about Labour's chances.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The SNP, keen to maintain its position as the third-largest party in the House of Commons, made the need to protect Scotland's interests in the Brexit negotiations a central part of its campaign. The SNP manifesto called for a vote on independence to be held "at the end of the Brexit process", set out "anti-austerity" plans to invest £118bn in UK public services over the next five years, pledged to increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour and called for Scotland to have control over immigration and to remain in the EU single market after Brexit. With the polls closing, Nicola Sturgeon told the Today programme that the SNP could support a Labour government "on an issue-by-issue basis" in the event of a hung parliament and she would be open to forming a "progressive alternative to a Conservative government".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Central themes of the Liberal Democrat campaign were an offer of a referendum on any eventual Brexit deal and a desire for the UK to stay in the single market. The party reportedly targeted seats which had voted to remain in the EU, such as Twickenham, Oxford West and Abingdon, and Vauxhall. Bob Marshall-Andrews, a Labour MP from 1997 to 2010, announced he would support the Liberal Democrats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The party reported a surge in membership after the election was called, passing 100,000 on 24 April, having grown by 12,500 in the preceding week. The party also reported raising £500,000 in donations in the first 48 hours after May's announcement of an early election.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: An early issue raised in the campaign was Tim Farron's views, as a Christian, regarding gay sex and LGBT rights. After declining to state whether he thought gay sex was a sin, Farron affirmed that he believed neither being gay nor having gay sex are sinful.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The party proposed raising income tax by 1p to fund the NHS and maintaining the triple-lock on the state pension. The Liberal Democrats also promised an additional £7 billion to protect per-pupil funding in education; they said it would be partly funded by remaining in the EU single market. The party pledged on 11 May to accept 50,000 refugees from Syria over five years, with Farron saying that the £4.3 billion costs would over time be repaid in taxes by those refugees that settle in Britain.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 12 May the party revealed plans to legalise cannabis and extend paid paternity leave. Farron proposed financial incentives for graduates joining the armed forces and committed to NATO's 2% of GDP defence spending target. The next day the Liberal Democrats promised to end the cap on public-sector pay increases and repeal the Investigatory Powers Act. On 16 May the Liberal Democrats proposed an entrepreneurs' allowance, to review business rates and to increase access to credit.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Policies emphasised during their manifesto launch on 17 May included a second referendum on a Brexit deal with the option to remain a member of the EU, discounted bus passes for 16- to 21-year-olds, the reinstatement of Housing Benefit for 18- to 21-year-olds, a £3bn plan to build 300,000 new houses a year by 2022 and support for renters to build up equity in their rented properties.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Paul Nuttall announced that UKIP's manifesto would seek to ban the burqa, outlaw sharia law, impose a temporary moratorium on new Islamic schools and require annual checks against female genital mutilation (FGM) for high-risk girls. In response to the proposed burqa ban UKIP's foreign affairs spokesperson James Carver resigned, labelling the policy "misguided".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Despite losing all 145 of the seats it was defending in the 2017 local elections (but gaining one from Labour in Burnley), Nuttall insisted voters would return to UKIP in the general election. On 8 May UKIP proposed a net migration target of zero within five years.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Within hours of the election being announced, Corbyn, Farron and Sturgeon called for televised debates. The Prime Minister's office initially opposed the idea. On 19 April, the BBC and ITV announced they planned to host leaders' debates, as they had done in the 2010 and 2015 elections, whether or not May took part. Labour subsequently ruled out Corbyn taking part in television debates without May.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Broadcaster Andrew Neil separately interviewed the party leaders in "The Andrew Neil Interviews" on BBC One, starting on 22 May with Theresa May. The Manchester Arena bombing led to interviews with Nuttall, Farron, Sturgeon and Corbyn to be rescheduled. ITV Tonight also ran a series of programmes with the major party leaders.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Sky News and Channel 4 hosted an election programme on 29 May where May and Corbyn were individually interviewed by Jeremy Paxman after taking questions from a studio audience. The BBC held two debates to which all seven main party leaders were invited, on 31 May in Cambridge and 6 June in Manchester; both May and Corbyn stated they would not attend the 31 May debate. May said that she had already debated Corbyn many times in parliament, and that she would be meeting the public instead. Corbyn announced on the day that he would attend the debate in Cambridge, calling on May to do the same. Instead Amber Rudd appeared for the Conservatives.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The BBC hosted separate debates for the English regions, and for both Scotland and Wales, and also a "Question Time" special with May and Corbyn separately answering questions from voters on 2 June, chaired by David Dimbleby. Sturgeon and Farron were expected to do the same on 4 June, but after the 2017 London Bridge attack it was rescheduled to 5 June and instead presented by Nick Robinson. The BBC also hosted two back-to-back episodes of a special election programme titled "Election Questions" on 4 June, the first in Bristol with Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley followed by Nuttall, and the second in Swansea with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood. The party leaders were individually questioned by a studio audience.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: STV planned to host a live TV debate in Glasgow with four Scottish party leaders on 24 May, but it was postponed, owing to the Manchester Arena bombing. The debate was rescheduled for Tuesday 6 June.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In the 12 months leading up to the election, the Conservatives spent £18.5m, Labour spent £11m and the Liberal Democrats spent £6.8m.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election. For example, the main national newspapers gave the following endorsements:


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In contrast to the 2015 general election, in which smaller parties received more media coverage than usual, coverage during the 2017 election focused on the two main political parties, Labour and the Conservatives (84% of the politicians featured in newspapers, and 67% on TV, were Conservative or Labour), with Conservatives sources receiving the most coverage and quotation, particularly in the print media (the margin of difference between Conservative and Labour sources was 2.1 points on TV and 9.6 points in newspapers). The five most prominent politicians were Theresa May (Cons) (30.1% of news appearanced), Jeremy Corbyn (Lab) (26.7%), Tim Farron (Lib Dem) (6.8%), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) (3.7%), and Boris Johnson (Cons) (3.6%). The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) received next to no coverage during the campaign (0.4% of appearances) but were prominent in coverage after the election.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Newspapers were partisan in their coverage and generally took an attacking editorial line, providing negative coverage of one or more parties they opposed rather than advocating for the party they endorsed, with Labour receiving the most negative coverage. Mick Temple, professor of Journalism and Politics at Staffordshire University, characterised the negativity Corbyn and Labour received during this election as more hostile than that which Ed Miliband and Labour received during the 2015 general election. Jeremy Corbyn was portrayed as a coward, and he and his closest allies were accused of being terrorist sympathizers. During the election period, BBC "Question Time" host David Dimbleby said Jeremy Corbyn had not had 'a fair deal at the hands of the press' and that he was more popular than the media made him out to be. An exception, when the Conservative Party received more negative coverage than Labour, was during the third week of the campaign, when the Conservatives released their manifesto, proposed a controversial social welfare policy (which became known as the "dementia tax") and subsequently made a U-turn on the proposal. When newspaper circulation size is accounted for, the Conservative Party was the only party to receive a positive evaluation overall from the press. It was endorsed by newspapers that had an 80% share of the national Sunday press audience (the five Sunday newspapers endorsing the Conservatives had a daily circulation of more than 4 million) and 57% of the national daily press (a combined circulation of 4,429,460).


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: One national Sunday newspaper (the "Sunday Mirror"), endorsed Labour, with two others endorsing tactical voting against the Conservative (these three titles, with a daily circulation of under 1 million, had a share of 20% of the Sunday press audience), and 11% of the national daily press (namely, "The Guardian" and the "Daily Mirror"; a combined circulation of 841,010). On this metric, 'Conservative partisanship was the most salient voice in the British national press'. When newspapers' articles were measured by their positivity and negativity towards and against the parties running in the election, "The Sun", "The Daily Telegraph", the "Daily Express" and the "Daily Mail" provided support for the Conservatives and "The Guardian" and the "Daily Mirror" provided support for the Labour party. However, few "Guardian" or "Mirror" election-related editorials called for a vote for Labour, and even fewer endorsed Corbyn – many articles in left-wing papers criticised him, or he was ignored. While the collective voice of the right-wing papers were (four times) stronger in their support for the Conservatives than the left-wing were of Labour, on the whole they were similar to the left in their negativity towards, or avoidance of, the leader of their endorsed party. Only the "Daily Express" gave Theresa May unreserved support. After the election, the press turned on Theresa May, who had run on a campaign that platformed her as a 'strong and stable' leader, and they described her as 'weak and wobbly', 'robotic', the 'zombie prime minister', and a 'dead woman walking'.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Broadcast media, by giving airtime directly to Jeremy Corbyn and his policy ideas, was seen as playing a significant role during the election in presenting him as someone less frightening that the newspapers had presented him and more engaging than Theresa May. The BBC has been criticised for its coverage during the election campaign. For example, right-wing papers "The Sun" and the "Daily Mail" complained that the audience at the BBC run leaders' debate was pro-Corbyn, and the "Daily Mail" asked why the topic of immigration, one of the Conservatives favoured issues, was barely mentioned; and right-wing websites Breitbart London and Westmonster said BBC coverage on Brexit was pro-EU. Left-wing websites, like The Canary, The Skwawkbox and Another Angry Voice complained that the BBC was pro-Tory and anti-Corbyn. According to analysts, a bias was evident during Jeremy Paxman's leaders debates, with 54% of airtime devoted to Conservative issues and 31% to Labour's. In an episode of "Have I Got News for You" aired during the campaign period, Ian Hislop, editor of "Private Eye", suggested the BBC was biased in favour of the Conservatives. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg particularly received criticism for her election coverage. During the election the BBC circulated a 2015 report of Kuenssberg's (on Corbyn's views on 'shoot to kill' policy) that had been censured by the BBC Trust for its misleading editing; on the final day of the election the BBC acknowledged that the clip was subject to a complaint that had been upheld by the Trust.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: As during the 2015 election, although less than then (−12.5%), most media coverage (32.9%) was given to the workings of the electoral process itself (e.g., electoral events, opinion polls, 'horse race' coverage, campaign mishaps). During the first two weeks of campaigning, members of the public, interviewed in vox pops, made up a fifth to almost a half of all sources in broadcast news. While in the first two weeks of the election period policy made up less than half of all broadcast coverage, over the whole campaign policy received more coverage in all media than during the previous election, particularly after manifestos were published in the third week, when close to eight in ten broadcast news items were primarily about policy issues. Policy around Brexit and the EU receiving most coverage overall (10.9%), and national events that happened during the campaign period (namely, the terrorist attacks on Manchester Arena and in the area of London Bridge), along with controversies over Trident, brought policy issues around defence and security to the fore (7.2%).


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: From the start of the campaign, commentators predicted a landslide victory for the Conservatives. After the results were in and the Conservatives had won by a much smaller margin, on air Channel 4's Jon Snow said, "I know nothing, we the media, the pundits and experts, know nothing". A number of newspaper columnists expressed similar sentiments. Some analysts and commentators have suggested the gap between the newspapers' strong support, and the public's marginal support, for the Conservatives in this election indicates a decline in the influence of print media, and/or that in 2017's election social media played a decisive role (perhaps being the first election in which this was the case). Some website and blog content, like that produced by The Canary and Another Angry Voice, gained as much traffic as many mainstream media articles and went more viral than mainstream political journalism. The London Economic had the most shared election-related article online during the campaign. Others urge caution, stressing that the traditional press still have an importance influence on how people vote. In a YouGov poll, 42% of the general public said that TV was most influential in helping them choose, or confirming their choice in, whom to vote for; 32% said newspapers and magazines; 26%, social media; and 25%, radio. 58% of people surveyed also thought that the social media had diminished the influence of newspapers.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage announced that he would not stand, saying he could be more effective as an MEP. UKIP major donor Arron Banks, who had earlier indicated his intention to stand in Clacton to defeat Douglas Carswell, withdrew in favour of the UKIP candidate after Carswell announced he would be standing down.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood chose not to contest a Westminster seat, nor did former Labour MP and shadow chancellor Ed Balls.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In the 2015 general election, polling companies underestimated the Conservative Party vote and overestimated the Labour Party vote and so failed to predict the result accurately. Afterwards they started making changes to polling practices; recommendations from a review by the British Polling Council are likely to result in further changes. Almost all polls and predictions were for seats in Great Britain only, with Northern Irish parties being either absent from the totals or counted as "other". The Spreadex columns below cover bets on the number of seats each party will win with the midpoint between asking and selling price.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The first-past-the-post system used in UK general elections means that the number of seats won is not directly related to vote share. Thus, several approaches are used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The UK's first-past-the-post electoral system means that national shares of the vote do not give an exact indicator of how the various parties will be represented in Parliament. Different commentators and pollsters currently provide a number of predictions, based on polls and other data, as to how the parties will be represented in Parliament:


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: An exit poll, conducted by GfK and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the BBC, ITV and Sky News, was published at the end of voting at 10 pm, predicting the number of seats for each party, with the Conservatives being the largest party, but short of an overall majority: Actual results were close to the prediction.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Results for all constituencies except Kensington were reported by the morning after the election. The Conservatives remained the largest single party in terms of seats and votes, but were short of a parliamentary majority. The Conservatives won 317 seats with 42.4% of the vote while the Labour Party won 262 seats with 40.0% of the vote. The election resulted in the third hung parliament since the Second World War, elections in February 1974 and 2010 having previously resulted in hung parliaments. YouGov correctly predicted a hung parliament after employing "controversial" methodology.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Twenty-nine seats that had changed parties at the 2015 election changed parties again in 2017. Nineteen of these seats returned the candidate from the party that had held the seat in 2010. A third party took ten of these seats: nine were Conservative gains from the SNP in seats that the SNP had won from Labour in 2015, whilst Portsmouth South, which the Conservatives had gained from the Lib Dems in 2015, was then gained by Labour in 2017.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In England, Labour made a net gain of 21 seats, taking 25 constituencies from the Conservatives and two from the Liberal Democrats. Its gains were predominantly in university towns and cities and in London, most notably achieving victories in Battersea, Canterbury, Kensington and Ipswich from the Conservatives by narrow margins; it also lost five seats to the Conservatives, largely in the Midlands, and did not regain Copeland which had been lost in a February by-election. The Conservatives experienced a net loss of 22 seats, the first time since 1997 that the party suffered a net loss of seats. They gained Clacton from UKIP and Southport from the Liberal Democrats in addition to the six gains from Labour. The Liberal Democrats took five seats from the Conservatives, including Twickenham, won back by Vince Cable, and Kingston and Surbiton, won by Ed Davey, but lost two seats to Labour: Leeds North West and Sheffield Hallam, the seat of former party leader Nick Clegg. Richmond Park, which the Liberal Democrats had won in a 2016 by-election, was narrowly lost to the Conservatives. Caroline Lucas remained the sole Green Party MP, retaining Brighton Pavilion.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Scotland, the Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats all gained seats from the SNP, whose losses were attributed to opposition to a second Scottish independence referendum, contributing to tactical voting for unionist parties. The Conservative Party placed second in Scotland for the first time since 1992, won its largest number of seats in Scotland since 1983 and recorded its highest share of the vote there since 1979. With thirteen seats, the Scottish Conservatives became the largest unionist party in Scotland for the first time since 1955. Labour gained six seats from the SNP, while the Liberal Democrats gained three. Having won 56 of 59 Scottish seats at the last general election, the SNP lost a total of 21 seats, and majorities in its remaining seats were greatly reduced. High-profile losses included SNP Commons leader Angus Robertson in Moray and former party leader and ex-First Minister Alex Salmond in Gordon.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Wales, Labour held 25 seats and gained Cardiff North, Gower and Vale of Clwyd from the Conservatives, leaving the Welsh Tories with eight seats. Plaid Cymru retained its three existing seats and gained Ceredigion, the Liberal Democrats' only seat in Wales. This was the first ever election at which the Liberal Democrats or one of their ancestral parties failed to win a seat in Wales.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In Northern Ireland, the SDLP lost its three seats (Foyle and South Down to Sinn Féin and Belfast South to the DUP), while the UUP lost its two seats (Fermanagh and South Tyrone to Sinn Féin and South Antrim to the DUP). With the Alliance Party failing to win any seats or regain Belfast East, this left the DUP with ten seats (up from eight) and Sinn Féin with seven (up from four); independent unionist Sylvia Hermon retained North Down. Recording its best result since partition, Sinn Féin confirmed it would continue its abstentionist policy, leaving no nationalist representation in the House of Commons.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: UKIP failed to win any seats, its vote share falling from 12.6% at the previous general election to just 1.8%; party leader Paul Nuttall came third in Boston and Skegness. The Greens' vote share dropped from 3.8% to 1.6%.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The result was noted for increased vote shares for Labour (up 9.6 percentage points) and the Conservatives (up 5.5 percentage points), with a combined 82.4% share of the vote, up from 67.3% in 2015. The highest combined share of the vote for the two main parties since 1970, it was suggested this indicated a return to two-party politics caused by tactical voting which led to the Conservatives having a smaller share of seats despite an increased number of votes. The election was characterised by higher turnout, particularly among younger voters, which may have contributed to Labour's increased vote share. Research company Ipsos MORI considered age to be one of the most significant factors behind the result; compared to the 2015 general election, under-45s tended to opt more for Labour and over-54s for the Conservatives. It found 60% of those aged 18–24 voted Labour while 61% of over-64s voted Conservative. The swing to Labour was high in those seats with large numbers of young people. In seats where the Remain vote was strong there was also evidence of tactical voting against the Conservatives to stop a "hard Brexit", with many voters opting for the non-Conservative candidate with the best chance of winning.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In terms of social grade, Labour increased its share of middle-class voters (defined as ABC1) by 12 percentage points compared to the previous election while the Conservatives increased their share of working-class voters (C2DE) by 12 percentage points. Political scientist John Curtice found that the Conservatives tended to experience a greater increase in vote share in seats with a higher proportion of working-class voters, particularly those that voted Leave in the EU referendum. Many of Labour's most successful results occurred in seats that voted Remain by a large margin in 2016.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Compared to previous elections, turnout by private renters increased (from 51% in 2010 to 65%) and favoured Labour to a greater degree, with the party achieving a 23-point lead over the Conservatives among private renters; the Conservatives maintained a 14-point lead among homeowners. In terms of education, YouGov found that a one-point lead for the Conservatives among university graduates in 2015 had flipped to a 17-point lead for Labour in 2017. For those with low educational qualifications, the Conservatives led by 22 points, up from 8 points in 2015.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: It was suggested that UKIP's decline boosted both main parties, but tended to help Labour retain seats in the North of England and the Midlands against the Conservatives, though it may have also benefited the Conservatives in predominantly working-class seats. Ipsos Mori found that UKIP's collapse was consistent across all age groups.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Published in August 2017, the British Election Study (BES), which surveyed 30,000 voters, found that despite a relatively low profile in the campaign, Brexit was considered to be the single most important issue facing the country by over a third of respondents. It found more than half of UKIP voters in 2015 went to the Conservatives, while 18% went to Labour. Remain voters tended to favour Labour, with the party particularly gaining among Remain voters who previously supported other parties, despite perceived uncertainty over its position on the single market. There was a strong correlation between those who prioritised controlling immigration and the Conservatives, while the same was true for supporting single market access and those who opted for Labour or the Liberal Democrats.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The BES study indicated the importance of the campaign period. A pre-election survey found 41% for the Conservatives and 27% for Labour, but by the election 19% of voters had switched party. Unlike the previous election where both main parties achieved similar shares of late-switchers, Labour won 54% while the Conservatives won 19%. Likeability of party leaders also narrowed over the course of the campaign.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Newly elected MPs included Britain's first turbaned Sikh MP, Tan Dhesi, the first woman Sikh MP, Preet Gill, and the first MP of Palestinian descent, Layla Moran.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: A record number of woman and LGBT+ MPs were elected. 208 woman MPs were elected to Parliament; the first time more than 200 MPs were women and beating the previous high of 196 woman MPs in the last Parliament. For the first time, a majority of MPs were educated at state comprehensive schools. More MPs who are known to be disabled were elected in 2017 than in 2015.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: The results of the 2017 general election indicate the tilting of Britain's political axis, which reflects long-term trends. Looking at information of constituency-level voting in England between 2005 and 2017, patterns of voting confirm the relevance of identifying new categories of social class alongside traditional political divides. Labour has had increased appeal to voters who work in areas central to the modern British economy, and at the same time in larger metropolitan centres and economically dynamic university towns. On the other hand, the Conservative voter base has been seen to increase in less populated, less ethnically diverse areas, where voters are more engaged in industries such as manufacturing.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Corbyn and Farron called on May to resign. On 9 June, May apologised to candidates who lost their seats and confirmed she would continue as party leader and prime minister, with the intention of forming a minority government with support from the Democratic Unionist Party to ensure "certainty". By convention, when no party has a majority, the incumbent prime minister has the first opportunity to garner enough support to govern.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: May's joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resigned, replaced by Gavin Barwell, who had lost his seat in the election.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: On 10 June, a survey of 1,500 ConservativeHome readers found that almost two-thirds of Conservative Party members wanted Theresa May to resign. A YouGov poll of 1,720 adults for "The Sunday Times" had 48% saying Theresa May should resign, with 38% against. A Survation poll of 1,036 adults online for "The Mail on Sunday" showed 49% of people wanting her resignation, with 38% against. On 11 June George Osborne, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, described May as a "dead woman walking".


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In a post-election reshuffle carried out on 11 June, May promoted her close ally Damian Green to become First Secretary of State and brought Michael Gove into the cabinet as Environment Secretary, making Andrea Leadsom Leader of the House of Commons. Liz Truss, David Lidington and David Gauke changed roles, while eleven cabinet members including key figures such as Boris Johnson, Amber Rudd, Michael Fallon, Philip Hammond and David Davis remained in post.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Negotiations between the Conservatives and the DUP began on 9 June. On 12 June, it was reported that the State Opening of Parliament, scheduled for 19 June, could be delayed. DUP sources informed the BBC that the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June would delay finalisation of an agreement. On 15 June, it was announced that the Queen's Speech would occur on 21 June. A confidence and supply deal was reached on 26 June, with the DUP backing the Conservatives in key votes in the House of Commons over the course of the parliament. The agreement included additional funding of £1 billion for Northern Ireland, highlighted mutual support for Brexit and national security, expressed commitment to the Good Friday Agreement, and indicated that policies such as the state pension triple lock and Winter Fuel Payments would be maintained. Various commentators suggested this raises problems for the UK government's role as a neutral arbiter in Northern Ireland, as is required under the Good Friday Agreement.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In April 2020, Sky News's Tom Rayner and "The Independent"s Jon Stone reported on an 860-page dossier into the handing of allegations of antisemitism by Labour members and officials. Stone stated that the right-wing of the party weaponised claims of antisemitism—amongst other things—in an active attempt to undermine Corbyn and prevent Labour from winning the 2017 election in the hope that a poor result would trigger a leadership contest to remove Corbyn as leader.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: After achieving just 1.8% of the popular vote, down from 12.7% in 2015, and failing to win any seats, Paul Nuttall resigned as UKIP leader on 9 June. A leadership election followed.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Ian Blackford became the new SNP leader in Westminster on 14 June, following Angus Robertson's defeat.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Also on 14 June, Brian Paddick resigned as home affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats over concerns about Farron's "views on various issues" during the campaign. Later that day Farron announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats, citing conflict between his Christian faith and serving as leader. He remained as leader until Sir Vince Cable was elected unopposed on 20 July.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Figures inside and outside the Conservative Party criticised its campaign widely. Points of criticism included the initial decision to call the election (which Lynton Crosby had advised against); the control of the campaign by a small team of May's joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, who were more experienced with policy work than campaigning; the presidential style of the campaign focusing on the figure of Theresa May, while most of the Cabinet were sidelined (particularly the exclusion of Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, with reports that May would sack him after the election); and a poorly designed manifesto that offered little hope and the contents of which were not shared with Cabinet members until shortly before its release. In July, Prime Minister Theresa May admitted she had "shed a tear" upon seeing the election exit poll, and suggested the manifesto's lack of appeal to younger voters had played a part in Conservative shortcomings.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: In 2018, an investigation by Swansea University and "The Sunday Times" revealed that 6,500 Russian Twitter accounts, at least many of which were bots, supported Labour, denigrated Conservatives, and reached millions of voters. Their intention was to swing the elections for Labour. Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell dismissed the claims as "ludicrous", "farcical" and a "classic "Sunday Times" smear campaign" and further said: "If there's an issue here about anything with Russian influence in our society, it's about Russian oligarchs funding the Tory party – let's have an inquiry into that."


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: A January 2018 report in "The Times" reported that researchers at Oxford University and the University of Manchester have found that election turnout in June 2017 was actually in the high 70s per cent and could have been as high as 80.3 per cent, partly because those with second homes and students are registered twice, and partly also because of entries there by mistake or because of voter fraud. By overestimating the number of registered voters, official sources underestimated the proportion of the electorate that voted. Turnout in the 2017 election is likely to have been roughly 78 per cent. A spokesman for the Election Commission said officials would "consider this report's findings on the calculation of election turnout figures". The commission "continues to work to improve the accuracy and completeness" of the electoral register, he added.


title: 2017 United Kingdom general election

text: Electoral commission data shows that in 2017 Q2, total donations for each major political party, over £7,500, are as follows:


title: Exponential distribution

text: In probability theory and statistics, the exponential distribution is the probability distribution of the time between events in a Poisson point process, i.e., a process in which events occur continuously and independently at a constant average rate. It is a particular case of the gamma distribution. It is the continuous analogue of the geometric distribution, and it has the key property of being memoryless. In addition to being used for the analysis of Poisson point processes it is found in various other contexts.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution is not the same as the class of exponential families of distributions. This is a large class of probability distributions that includes the exponential distribution as one of its members, but also includes many other distributions, like the normal, binomial, gamma, and Poisson distributions.


title: Exponential distribution

text: Here "λ" > 0 is the parameter of the distribution, often called the "rate parameter". The distribution is supported on the interval . If a random variable "X" has this distribution, we write .


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution is sometimes parametrized in terms of the scale parameter , which is also the mean:


title: Exponential distribution

text: The mean or expected value of an exponentially distributed random variable "X" with rate parameter "λ" is given by


title: Exponential distribution

text: In light of the examples given below, this makes sense: if you receive phone calls at an average rate of 2 per hour, then you can expect to wait half an hour for every call.


title: Exponential distribution

text: When "T" is interpreted as the waiting time for an event to occur relative to some initial time, this relation implies that, if "T" is conditioned on a failure to observe the event over some initial period of time "s", the distribution of the remaining waiting time is the same as the original unconditional distribution. For example, if an event has not occurred after 30 seconds, the conditional probability that occurrence will take at least 10 more seconds is equal to the unconditional probability of observing the event more than 10 seconds after the initial time.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution and the geometric distribution are the only memoryless probability distributions.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution is consequently also necessarily the only continuous probability distribution that has a constant failure rate.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The directed Kullback–Leibler divergence in nats of formula_15 ("approximating" distribution) from formula_16 ('true' distribution) is given by


title: Exponential distribution

text: Among all continuous probability distributions with support and mean "μ", the exponential distribution with "λ" = 1/"μ" has the largest differential entropy. In other words, it is the maximum entropy probability distribution for a random variate "X" which is greater than or equal to zero and for which E["X"] is fixed.


title: Exponential distribution

text: Let "X", …, "X" be independent exponentially distributed random variables with rate parameters "λ", …, "λ". Then


title: Exponential distribution

text: The index of the variable which achieves the minimum is distributed according to the categorical distribution


title: Exponential distribution

text: Let formula_25 be formula_26 independent and identically distributed exponential random variables with rate parameter "λ".


title: Exponential distribution

text: For formula_28 , the joint moment formula_29 of the order statistics formula_30 and formula_31 is given by


title: Exponential distribution

text: The second equation exploits the fact that once we condition on formula_34, it must follow that formula_35. The third equation relies on the memoryless property to replace formula_36 with formula_37.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The probability distribution function (PDF) of a sum of two independent random variables is the convolution of their individual PDFs. If formula_38 and formula_39 are independent exponential random variables with respective rate parameters formula_40 and formula_41 then the probability density of formula_42 is given by


title: Exponential distribution

text: The entropy of this distribution is available in closed form: assuming formula_44 (without loss of generality), then


title: Exponential distribution

text: In the case of equal rate parameters, the result is an Erlang distribution with shape 2 and parameter formula_48 which in turn is a special case of gamma distribution.


title: Exponential distribution

text: Below, suppose random variable "X" is exponentially distributed with rate parameter λ, and formula_77 are "n" independent samples from "X", with sample mean formula_78.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The likelihood function for λ, given an independent and identically distributed sample "x" = ("x", …, "x") drawn from the variable, is:


title: Exponential distribution

text: This is an unbiased estimator of formula_48 although formula_84 an unbiased MLE estimator of formula_85 and the distribution mean.


title: Exponential distribution

text: An approximate minimizer of mean squared error (see also: bias–variance tradeoff) can be found, assuming a sample size greater than two, with a correction factor to the MLE:


title: Exponential distribution

text: The Fisher information, denoted formula_91, for an estimator of the rate parameter formula_92 is given as:


title: Exponential distribution

text: This determines the amount of information each independent sample of an exponential distribution carries about the unknown rate parameter formula_92.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The 100(1 − α)% confidence interval for the rate parameter of an exponential distribution is given by:


title: Exponential distribution

text: where is the percentile of the chi squared distribution with "v" degrees of freedom, n is the number of observations of inter-arrival times in the sample, and x-bar is the sample average. A simple approximation to the exact interval endpoints can be derived using a normal approximation to the distribution. This approximation gives the following values for a 95% confidence interval:


title: Exponential distribution

text: The conjugate prior for the exponential distribution is the gamma distribution (of which the exponential distribution is a special case). The following parameterization of the gamma probability density function is useful:


title: Exponential distribution

text: The posterior distribution "p" can then be expressed in terms of the likelihood function defined above and a gamma prior:


title: Exponential distribution

text: Now the posterior density "p" has been specified up to a missing normalizing constant. Since it has the form of a gamma pdf, this can easily be filled in, and one obtains:


title: Exponential distribution

text: Here the hyperparameter "α" can be interpreted as the number of prior observations, and "β" as the sum of the prior observations.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution occurs naturally when describing the lengths of the inter-arrival times in a homogeneous Poisson process.


title: Exponential distribution

text: The exponential distribution may be viewed as a continuous counterpart of the geometric distribution, which describes the number of Bernoulli trials necessary for a "discrete" process to change state. In contrast, the exponential distribution describes the time for a continuous process to change state.


title: Exponential distribution

text: In real-world scenarios, the assumption of a constant rate (or probability per unit time) is rarely satisfied. For example, the rate of incoming phone calls differs according to the time of day. But if we focus on a time interval during which the rate is roughly constant, such as from 2 to 4 p.m. during work days, the exponential distribution can be used as a good approximate model for the time until the next phone call arrives. Similar caveats apply to the following examples which yield approximately exponentially distributed variables:


title: Exponential distribution

text: Exponential variables can also be used to model situations where certain events occur with a constant probability per unit length, such as the distance between mutations on a DNA strand, or between roadkills on a given road.


title: Exponential distribution

text: In queuing theory, the service times of agents in a system (e.g. how long it takes for a bank teller etc. to serve a customer) are often modeled as exponentially distributed variables. (The arrival of customers for instance is also modeled by the Poisson distribution if the arrivals are independent and distributed identically.) The length of a process that can be thought of as a sequence of several independent tasks follows the Erlang distribution (which is the distribution of the sum of several independent exponentially distributed variables).


title: Exponential distribution

text: Reliability theory and reliability engineering also make extensive use of the exponential distribution. Because of the "memoryless" property of this distribution, it is well-suited to model the constant hazard rate portion of the bathtub curve used in reliability theory. It is also very convenient because it is so easy to add failure rates in a reliability model. The exponential distribution is however not appropriate to model the overall lifetime of organisms or technical devices, because the "failure rates" here are not constant: more failures occur for very young and for very old systems.


title: Exponential distribution

text: In physics, if you observe a gas at a fixed temperature and pressure in a uniform gravitational field, the heights of the various molecules also follow an approximate exponential distribution, known as the Barometric formula. This is a consequence of the entropy property mentioned below.


title: Exponential distribution

text: In hydrology, the exponential distribution is used to analyze extreme values of such variables as monthly and annual maximum values of daily rainfall and river discharge volumes.


title: Exponential distribution

text: In operating-rooms management, the distribution of surgery duration for a category of surgeries with no typical work-content (like in an emergency room, encompassing all types of surgeries).


title: Exponential distribution

text: Having observed a sample of "n" data points from an unknown exponential distribution a common task is to use these samples to make predictions about future data from the same source. A common predictive distribution over future samples is the so-called plug-in distribution, formed by plugging a suitable estimate for the rate parameter "λ" into the exponential density function. A common choice of estimate is the one provided by the principle of maximum likelihood, and using this yields the predictive density over a future sample "x", conditioned on the observed samples "x" = ("x", ..., "x") given by


title: Exponential distribution

text: The Bayesian approach provides a predictive distribution which takes into account the uncertainty of the estimated parameter, although this may depend crucially on the choice of prior.


title: Exponential distribution

text: A predictive distribution free of the issues of choosing priors that arise under the subjective Bayesian approach is


title: Exponential distribution

text: The accuracy of a predictive distribution may be measured using the distance or divergence between the true exponential distribution with rate parameter, "λ", and the predictive distribution based on the sample "x". The Kullback–Leibler divergence is a commonly used, parameterisation free measure of the difference between two distributions. Letting Δ("λ"||"p") denote the Kullback–Leibler divergence between an exponential with rate parameter "λ" and a predictive distribution "p" it can be shown that


title: Exponential distribution

text: where the expectation is taken with respect to the exponential distribution with rate parameter , and is the digamma function. It is clear that the CNML predictive distribution is strictly superior to the maximum likelihood plug-in distribution in terms of average Kullback–Leibler divergence for all sample sizes .


title: Exponential distribution

text: A conceptually very simple method for generating exponential variates is based on inverse transform sampling: Given a random variate "U" drawn from the uniform distribution on the unit interval , the variate


title: Exponential distribution

text: Moreover, if "U" is uniform on (0, 1), then so is 1 − "U". This means one can generate exponential variates as follows:


title: Exponential distribution

text: A fast method for generating a set of ready-ordered exponential variates without using a sorting routine is also available.


title: Goliath

text: Goliath ( ) is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's unfitness to rule, as Saul himself should have fought for Israel. Scholars today believe that the original listed killer of Goliath was Elhanan, son of Jair, and that the authors of the Deuteronomic history changed the original text to credit the victory to the more famous character David.


title: Goliath

text: The phrase "David and Goliath" has taken on a more popular meaning denoting an underdog situation, a contest wherein a smaller, weaker opponent faces a much bigger, stronger adversary.


title: Goliath

text: Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. Twice a day for 40 days, morning and evening, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat, but Saul is afraid. David accepts the challenge. Saul reluctantly agrees and offers his armor, which David declines, taking only his staff, sling, and five stones from a brook.


title: Goliath

text: David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and javelin, David with his staff and sling. "The Philistine cursed David by his gods", but David replies: "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a god in Israel and that all this assembly may know that God saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is God's, and he will give you into our hand."


title: Goliath

text: David hurls a stone from his sling and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead, Goliath falls on his face to the ground, and David cuts off his head. The Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites "as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron". David puts the armor of Goliath in his own tent and takes the head to Jerusalem, and Saul sends Abner to bring the boy to him. The king asks whose son he is, and David answers, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."


title: Goliath

text: The Books of Samuel, together with the books of Joshua, Judges and Kings, make up a unified history of Israel which biblical scholars call the Deuteronomistic History. The first edition of the history was probably written at the court of Judah's King Josiah (late 7th century BCE) and a revised second edition during the exile (6th century BCE), with further revisions in the post-exilic period. Traces of this can be seen in contradictions within the Goliath story, such as that between 1 Samuel 17:54, which says that David took Goliath's head to Jerusalem, although according to 2 Samuel 5 Jerusalem at that time was still a Jebusite stronghold and was not captured until David became king.


title: Goliath

text: The Goliath story is made up of base-narrative with numerous additions made probably after the exile:


title: Goliath

text: The oldest manuscripts, namely the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Samuel from the late 1st century BCE, the 1st-century CE historian Josephus, and the major Septuagint manuscripts, all give Goliath's height as "four cubits and a span" (), whereas the Masoretic Text has "six cubits and a span" (). Many scholars have suggested that the smaller number grew in the course of transmission (only a few have suggested the reverse, that an original larger number was reduced), possibly when a scribe's eye was drawn to the number six in line 17:7.


title: Goliath

text: The underlying purpose of the story of Goliath is to show that Saul is not fit to be king (and that David is). Saul was chosen to lead the Israelites against their enemies, but when faced with Goliath he refuses to do so; Saul is a head taller than anyone else in all Israel (1 Samuel 9:2), which implies he was over tall and the obvious challenger for Goliath, yet David is the one who eventually defeated him. Also, Saul's armor and weaponry are apparently no worse than Goliath's. "David declares that when a lion or bear came and attacked his father's sheep, he battled against it and killed it, [but Saul] has been cowering in fear instead of rising up and attacking the threat to his sheep (i.e., Israel)." David's speech in 1 Sam 17 can be interpreted as referring to both Saul and Goliath through its animal imagery. When this imagery is considered closely, David can be seen to function as the true king who manipulates wild beasts.


title: Goliath

text: 2 Samuel 21:19 tells how Goliath the Gittite was killed by "Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite." Scholars believe that the original killer of Goliath was Elhanan and that the authors of the Deutoronomic history changed the text to credit the victory to the more famous character David. The fourth-century BC 1 Chronicle 20:5 explains the second Goliath by saying that Elhanan "slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath", constructing the name Lahmi from the last portion of the word "Bethlehemite" (""beit-ha’lahmi""), and the King James Bible adopted this into 2 Samuel 21:18–19, but the Hebrew text at Goliath's name makes no mention of the word "brother".


title: Goliath

text: "Most scholars dismiss the parallel in 1 Chronicles 20:5 as an obvious harmonization". "Halpern represents perhaps a majority of current scholars".


title: Goliath

text: The armor described in 1 Samuel 17 appears typical of Greek armor of the sixth century BCE rather than of Philistine armor of the tenth century BCE; narrative formulae such as the settlement of battle by single combat between champions has been thought characteristic of the Homeric epics (the "Iliad") rather than of the ancient Near East. The designation of Goliath as a , "man of the in-between" (a longstanding difficulty in translating 1 Samuel 17) appears to be a borrowing from Greek "man of the "" ()", i.e., the space between two opposite army camps where champion combat would take place.


title: Goliath

text: A story very similar to that of David and Goliath appears in the Iliad, written circa 760–710 BCE, where the young Nestor fights and conquers the giant Ereuthalion. Each giant wields a distinctive weapon—an iron club in Ereuthalion's case, a massive bronze spear in Goliath's; each giant, clad in armor, comes out of the enemy's massed array to challenge all the warriors in the opposing army; in each case the seasoned warriors are afraid, and the challenge is taken up by a stripling, the youngest in his family (Nestor is the twelfth son of Neleus, David the seventh or eighth son of Jesse). In each case an older and more experienced father figure (Nestor's own father, David's patron Saul) tells the boy that he is too young and inexperienced, but in each case the young hero receives divine aid and the giant is left sprawling on the ground. Nestor, fighting on foot, then takes the chariot of his enemy, while David, on foot, takes the sword of Goliath. The enemy army then flees, the victors pursue and slaughter them and return with their bodies, and the boy-hero is acclaimed by the people.


title: Goliath

text: Tell es-Safi, the biblical Gath and traditional home of Goliath, has been the subject of extensive excavations by Israel's Bar-Ilan University. The archaeologists have established that this was one of the largest of the Philistine cities until destroyed in the ninth century BC, an event from which it never recovered.


title: Goliath

text: The Tell es-Safi inscription, a potsherd discovered at the site, and reliably dated to between the tenth to mid-ninth centuries BC, is inscribed with the two names "ʾLWT" and "WLT". While the names are not directly connected with the biblical Goliath (, "GLYT"), they are etymologically related and demonstrate that the name fits with the context of the late tenth- to early ninth-century BC Philistine culture. The name "Goliath" itself is non-Semitic and has been linked with the Lydian king Alyattes, which also fits the Philistine context of the biblical Goliath story. A similar name, Uliat, is also attested in Carian inscriptions. Aren Maeir, director of the excavation, comments: "Here we have very nice evidence [that] the name Goliath appearing in the Bible in the context of the story of David and Goliath… is not some later literary creation."


title: Goliath

text: Based on the southwest Anatolian onomastic considerations, Roger D. Woodard proposed *"Walwatta" as a reconstruction of the form ancestral to both Hebrew Goliath and Lydian Alyattes. In this case, the original meaning of Goliath's name would be "Lion-man," thus placing him within the realm of Indo-European warrior-beast mythology. Other Indo-European parallels then would be Germanic bear-warriors (berserkers), the lion-warrior Heracles, werewolves, and related traditions describing battle rage as beastlike behavior. Woodard notes that the author of 1 Samuel was most likely not aware of the broader Indo-European mythological context but may draw upon an oral tradition linking Goliath with the lion; hence David's mention of killing the lion and bear and Goliath's question: "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?"


title: Goliath

text: According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 42b) Goliath was a son of Orpah, the sister-in-law of Ruth, David's own great grandmother (Ruth → Obed → Jesse → David). Ruth Rabbah, a haggadic and homiletic interpretation of the Book of Ruth, makes the blood-relationship even closer, considering Orpah and Ruth to have been full sisters. Orpah was said to have made a pretense of accompanying Ruth but after forty paces left her. Thereafter she led a dissolute life. According to the Jerusalem Talmud, Goliath was born by polyspermy, and had about one hundred fathers.


title: Goliath

text: The Talmud stresses Goliath's ungodliness: his taunts before the Israelites included the boast that it was he who had captured the Ark of the Covenant and brought it to the temple of Dagon, and his challenges to combat were made at morning and evening in order to disturb the Israelites in their prayers. His armor weighed 60 tons, according to rabbi Hanina; 120, according to rabbi Abba bar Kahana; and his sword, which became the sword of David, had marvelous powers. On his death it was found that his heart carried the image of Dagon, who thereby also came to a shameful downfall.


title: Goliath

text: In Pseudo-Philo, believed to have been composed between 135 BC and 70 AD, David picks up seven stones and writes on them his father's name, his own name, and the name of God, one name per stone; then, speaking to Goliath, he says "Hear this word before you die: were not the two woman from whom you and I were born, sisters? And your mother was Orpah and my mother Ruth ..." After David strikes Goliath with the stone he runs to Goliath before he dies and Goliath says "Hurry and kill me and rejoice." and David replies "Before you die, open your eyes and see your slayer." Goliath sees an angel and tells David that it is not he who has killed him but the angel. Pseudo-Philo then goes on to say that the angel of the Lord changes David's appearance so that no one recognizes him, and thus Saul asks who he is.


title: Goliath

text: Goliath appears in chapter 2 of the Quran (2: 247–252), in the narrative of David and Saul's battle against the Philistines. Called in Arabic (), Goliath's mention in the Quran is concise, although it remains a parallel to the account in the Hebrew Bible. Muslim scholars have tried to trace Goliath's origins, most commonly with the Amalekites. Goliath, in early scholarly tradition, became a kind of byword or collective name for the oppressors of the Israelite nation before David. Muslim tradition sees the battle with Goliath as a prefiguration of Muhammad's battle of Badr, and sees Goliath as parallel to the enemies that Muhammad faced.


title: Goliath

text: American actor Ted Cassidy portrayed Goliath in the TV series "Greatest Heroes of the Bible" in 1978. Italian actor Luigi Montefiori portrayed this -tall giant in Paramount's 1985 live-action film "King David" as part of a flashback. This film includes the King of the Philistines saying, "Goliath has challenged the Israelites six times and no one has responded." It is then on the seventh time that David meets his challenge.


title: Goliath

text: In 1972, Toho and Tsuburaya Productions collaborated on a film called "Daigoro vs. Goliath", which follows the story relatively closely but recasts the main characters as "kaiju".


title: Goliath

text: In 1975, Israeli band Poogy release a song called "Golyat" on the album "Tzafoof BaOzen", loosely and humorously based on the story.


title: Goliath

text: Suzanne Vega's song "Rock In This Pocket (Song Of David)" on the album "99.9°F" is based on the story.


title: Goliath

text: Todd Rippon portrayed Goliath in the "" episode "Giant Killer". This version is an actual giant and an old friend of Xena who was partially responsible for the giant Gareth killing his family. Like the Bible, Goliath was killed by David. This was done when Xena and those with her reflected the sunlight into his eyes. Before he died, Goliath asked Xena to avenge his family by doing away with Gareth. She managed to do that in the episode "A Day in the Life" by secretly tying a kite to him and goading Gareth to chase him which led to Gareth getting hit by one of Zeus' thunderbolts.


title: Goliath

text: In 2005, Lightstone Studios released a direct-to-DVD movie musical titled "One Smooth Stone", which was later changed to "David and Goliath". It is part of the Liken the Scriptures (now just Liken) series of movie musicals on DVD based on scripture stories. Thurl Bailey, a former NBA basketball player, was cast to play the part of Goliath in this film.


title: Goliath

text: In 2009, NBC aired Kings which has a narrative loosely based on the biblical story of King David, but set in a kingdom that culturally and technologically resembles the present-day United States. The part of Goliath is portrayed by a tank, which David destroys with a shoulder fired rocket launcher.


title: Goliath

text: Goliath was portrayed by the Australian pro-wrestler, stuntman and actor Conan Stevens in the 2013 TV miniseries "The Bible".


title: Goliath

text: The Italians used Goliath as an action superhero in a series of biblical adventure films (peplums) in the early 1960s. He possessed amazing strength, and the films were similar in theme to their Hercules and Maciste movies. After the classic "Hercules" (1958) became a blockbuster sensation in the film industry, the 1959 Steve Reeves film "Terrore dei Barbari" ("Terror of the Barbarians") was retitled "Goliath and the Barbarians" in the United States, (after Joseph E. Levine claimed the sole right to the name of "Hercules"); the film was so successful at the box office, it inspired Italian filmmakers to do a series of four more films featuring a beefcake hero named Goliath, although the films were not really related to each other. (The 1960 Italian film "David and Goliath" starring Orson Welles was not one of these, since that film was a straightforward adaptation of the biblical story).


title: Goliath

text: The name Goliath was later inserted into the film titles of three other Italian muscle man movies that were retitled for distribution in the United States in an attempt to cash in on the Goliath craze, but these films were not originally made as Goliath films in Italy.


title: Goliath

text: Both "Goliath and the Vampires" (1961) and "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" (1963) actually featured the famed superhero Maciste in the original Italian versions, but American distributors did not feel the name Maciste had any meaning to American audiences. "Goliath and the Dragon" (1960) was originally an Italian Hercules film called "The Revenge of Hercules".


title: Goliath

text: In modern usage, the phrase "David and Goliath" has taken on a secular meaning, denoting an underdog situation, a contest where a smaller, weaker opponent faces a much bigger, stronger adversary; if successful, the underdog may win in an unusual or surprising way.


title: Goliath

text: Theology professor Leonard Greenspoon, in his essay, "David vs. Goliath in the Sports Pages", explains that "most writers use the story for its underdog overtones (the little guy wins) ... Less likely to show up in newsprint is the contrast that was most important to the biblical authors: David's victory shows the power of his God, while Goliath's defeat reveals the weakness of the Philistine deities."


title: Goliath

text: The phrase is widely used in news media to succinctly characterize underdog situations in many contexts without religious overtones. Contemporary headlines include: sports ("Haye relishes underdog role in 'David and Goliath' fight with Nikolai Valuev"—"The Guardian"); business ("On Internet, David-and-Goliath Battle Over Instant Messages"—"The New York Times"); science ("David and Goliath: How a tiny spider catches much larger prey"—"ScienceDaily"; politics ("Dissent in Cuba: David and Goliath"—"The Economist"); social justice ("David-and-Goliath Saga Brings Cable to Skid Row"—"Los Angeles Times").


title: Goliath

text: Aside from the above allegorical use of "David and Goliath", there is also the use of "Goliath" for a particularly tall person. For example, basketball player Wilt Chamberlain was nicknamed "Goliath", which he disliked.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster ("Mesocricetus auratus"), which is the type most commonly kept as pets. Other hamster species commonly kept as pets are the three species of dwarf hamster, Campbell's dwarf hamster ("Phodopus campbelli"), the winter white dwarf hamster ("Phodopus sungorus") and the Roborovski hamster ("Phodopus roborovskii").


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters are more crepuscular than nocturnal and, in the wild, remain underground during the day to avoid being caught by predators. They feed primarily on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and will occasionally eat burrowing insects. Physically, they are stout-bodied with distinguishing features that include elongated cheek pouches extending to their shoulders, which they use to carry food back to their burrows, as well as a short tail and fur-covered feet.


title: Hamster

text: Taxonomists generally disagree about the most appropriate placement of the subfamily Cricetinae within the superfamily Muroidea. Some place it in a family Cricetidae that also includes voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice; others group all these into a large family called Muridae. Their evolutionary history is recorded by 15 extinct fossil genera and extends back 11.2 million to 16.4 million years to the Middle Miocene Epoch in Europe and North Africa; in Asia it extends 6 million to 11 million years. Four of the seven living genera include extinct species. One extinct hamster of "Cricetus", for example, lived in North Africa during the Middle Miocene, but the only extant member of that genus is the European or common hamster of Eurasia.


title: Hamster

text: Neumann "et al." (2006) conducted a molecular phylogenetic analysis of 12 of the above 17 species using DNA sequence from three genes: 12S rRNA, cytochrome b, and von Willebrand factor. They uncovered the following relationships:


title: Hamster

text: The genus "Phodopus" was found to represent the earliest split among hamsters. Their analysis included both species. The results of another study suggest "Cricetulus kamensis" (and presumably the related "C. alticola") might belong to either this "Phodopus" group or hold a similar basal position.


title: Hamster

text: The genus "Mesocricetus" also forms a clade. Their analysis included all four species, with "M. auratus" and "M. raddei" forming one subclade and "M. brandti" and "M. newtoni" another.


title: Hamster

text: The remaining genera of hamsters formed a third major clade. Two of the three sampled species within "Cricetulus" represent the earliest split. This clade contains "C. barabensis" (and presumably the related "C. sokolovi") and "C. longicaudatus".


title: Hamster

text: The remaining clade contains members of "Allocricetulus", "Tscherskia", "Cricetus", and "C. migratorius". "Allocricetulus" and "Cricetus" were sister taxa. "Cricetulus migratorius" was their next closest relative, and "Tscherskia" was basal.


title: Hamster

text: Although the Syrian hamster or golden hamster ("Mesocricetus auratus") was first described scientifically by George Robert Waterhouse in 1839, researchers were not able to successfully breed and domesticate hamsters until 1939. The entire laboratory and pet populations of Syrian hamsters appear to be descendants of a single brother–sister pairing. These littermates were captured and imported in 1930 from Aleppo in Syria by Israel Aharoni, a zoologist of the University of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, the hamsters bred very successfully. Years later, animals of this original breeding colony were exported to the United States, where Syrian hamsters became a common pet and laboratory animal. Comparative studies of domestic and wild Syrian hamsters have shown reduced genetic variability in the domestic strain. However, the differences in behavioral, chronobiological, morphometrical, hematological, and biochemical parameters are relatively small and fall into the expected range of interstrain variations in other laboratory animals.


title: Hamster

text: The name "hamster" is a loanword from the German, which itself derives from earlier Middle High German "hamastra". It is possibly related to Old Church Slavonic "khomestoru", which is either a blend of the root of Russian хомяк ("khomyak") "hamster" and a Baltic word (cf. Lithuanian "staras" "hamster"); or of Persian origin (cf. Av "hamaēstar" "oppressor"). The collective noun for a group of hamsters is "horde". In German, the verb "hamstern" is derived from "Hamster". It means "Hoarding".


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters are typically stout-bodied, with tails shorter than body length, and have small, furry ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet. They have thick, silky fur, which can be long or short, colored black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix, depending on the species. Two species of hamster belonging to the genus "Phodopus", Campbell's dwarf hamster ("P. campbelli") and the Djungarian hamster ("P. sungorus"), and two of the genus "Cricetulus", the Chinese striped hamster ("C. barabensis") and the Chinese hamster ("C. griseus") have a dark stripe down their heads to their tails. The species of genus "Phodopus" are the smallest, with bodies long; the largest is the European hamster ("Cricetus cricetus"), measuring up to long, not including a short tail of up to .


title: Hamster

text: The hamster tail can be difficult to see, as it is usually not very long (about the length of the body), with the exception of the Chinese hamster, which has a tail the same length as the body. One rodent characteristic that can be highly visible in hamsters is their sharp incisors; they have an upper pair and lower pair which grow continuously throughout life, so must be regularly worn down. Hamsters are very flexible, however their bones are somewhat fragile. They are extremely susceptible to rapid temperature changes and drafts, as well as extreme heat or cold.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters have poor eyesight; they are nearsighted and colorblind. Their eyesight leads to them not having a good sense of distance or knowing where they are. Even though their eyesight isn't good it doesn't stop a hamster from climbing their cages or even from them being adventurous. Hamsters can sense movement around at all times. This sense helps them protect themselves from harm in the wild but in a household situation it helps them sense when their owner may be near and might be going to pick them up. Hamsters have scent glands on their flanks (and abdomens in Chinese and dwarf hamsters) which they rub against the substrate, leaving a scent trail. Hamsters also use their sense of smell to distinguish between the sexes, and to locate food. Mother hamsters can also use their sense of smell to find their own babies and find out which ones aren't theirs. The scent glands can also be used to mark their territories, their babies, or their mate. Hamsters catch sounds by having their ears upright. They tend to learn similar noises and begin to know the sound of their food and even their owner's voice. They are also particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises and can hear and communicate in the ultrasonic range.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters are omnivores, which means they can eat meat and vegetables. Hamsters that live in the wild eat seeds, grass, and even insects. Although pet hamsters can survive on a diet of exclusively commercial hamster food, other items, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, can be given. Although store-bought food is good for hamsters, it is best if fruits and vegetables are also in their diet because it keeps them healthier. Even though hamsters are allowed to have both fruits and vegetables, it is important to understand exactly which ones they can have and how much. Hamsters do best with fruits that don't have citrus in them and most green leafy vegetables. Hamsters should never be fed junk food, chocolate, garlic, or any salty/sugary foods. Hamsters tend to love peanut butter but it is important to feed it to them carefully because this sticky food can get stuck in their cheeks. Hamsters in the Middle East have been known to hunt in packs to find insects for food. Hamsters are hindgut fermenters and often eat their own feces (coprophagy) to recover nutrients digested in the hind-gut, but not absorbed.


title: Hamster

text: A behavioral characteristic of hamsters is food hoarding. They carry food in their spacious cheek pouches to their underground storage chambers. When full, the cheeks can make their heads double, or even triple in size. Hamsters lose weight during the autumn months in anticipation of winter. This occurs even when hamsters are kept as pets and is related to an increase in exercise.


title: Hamster

text: Most hamsters are strictly solitary. If housed together, acute and chronic stress may occur, and they may fight fiercely, sometimes fatally. Dwarf hamster species may tolerate siblings or same-gender unrelated hamsters if introduced at an early enough age, but this cannot be guaranteed. Hamsters communicate through body language to one another and even to their owner. They communicate by sending a specific scent using their scent glands and also show body language to express how they are feeling.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters can be described as nocturnal or crepuscular (active mostly at dawn and dusk). Khunen writes, "Hamsters are nocturnal rodents who are active during the night...", but others have written that because hamsters live underground during most of the day, only leaving their burrows for about an hour before sundown and then returning when it gets dark, their behavior is primarily crepuscular. Fritzsche indicated although some species have been observed to show more nocturnal activity than others, they are all primarily crepuscular.


title: Hamster

text: In the wild Syrian hamsters can hibernate and allow their body temperature to fall close to ambient temperature. This kind of thermoregulation diminishes the metabolic rate to about 5% and helps the animal to considerably reduce the need for food during the winter. Hibernation can last up to one week but more commonly last 2–3 days. When kept as house pets the Syrian hamster does not hibernate.


title: Hamster

text: All hamsters are excellent diggers, constructing burrows with one or more entrances, with galleries connected to chambers for nesting, food storage, and other activities. They use their fore- and hindlegs, as well as their snouts and teeth, for digging. In the wild, the burrow buffers extreme ambient temperatures, offers relatively stable climatic conditions, and protects against predators. Syrian hamsters dig their burrows generally at a depth of 0.7 m. A burrow includes a steep entrance pipe (4–5 cm in diameter), a nesting and a hoarding chamber and a blind-ending branch for urination. Laboratory hamsters have not lost their ability to dig burrows; in fact, they will do this with great vigor and skill if they are provided with the appropriate substrate.


title: Hamster

text: Wild hamsters will also appropriate tunnels made by other mammals; the Djungarian hamster, for instance, uses paths and burrows of the pika.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters become fertile at different ages depending on their species. Both Syrian and Russian hamsters mature quickly and can begin reproducing at a young age (4–5 weeks), whereas Chinese hamsters will usually begin reproducing at two to three months of age, and Roborovskis at three to four months of age. The female's reproductive life lasts about 18 months, but male hamsters remain fertile much longer. Females are in estrus about every four days, which is indicated by a reddening of genital areas, a musky smell, and a hissing, squeaking vocalisation she will emit if she believes a male is nearby.


title: Hamster

text: When seen from above, a sexually mature female hamster has a trim tail line; a male's tail line bulges on both sides. This might not be very visible in all species. Male hamsters typically have very large testes in relation to their body size. Before sexual maturity occurs, it is more difficult to determine a young hamster's sex. When examined, female hamsters have their anal and genital openings close together, whereas males have these two holes farther apart (the penis is usually withdrawn into the coat and thus appears as a hole or pink pimple).


title: Hamster

text: Syrian hamsters are seasonal breeders and will produce several litters a year with several pups in each litter. The breeding season is from April to October in the Northern Hemisphere, with two to five litters of one to 13 young being born after a gestation period of 16 to 23 days. Dwarf hamsters breed all through the year. Gestation lasts 16 to 18 days for Syrian hamsters, 18 to 21 days for Russian hamsters, 21 to 23 days for Chinese hamsters and 23 to 30 for Roborovski hamsters. The average litter size for Syrian hamsters is about seven pups, but can be as great as 24, which is the maximum number of pups that can be contained in the uterus. Campbell's dwarf hamsters tend to have four to eight pups in a litter, but can have up to 13. Winter white hamsters tend to have slightly smaller litters, as do Chinese and Roborovski hamsters.


title: Hamster

text: Female Chinese and Syrian hamsters are known for being aggressive toward males if kept together for too long after mating. In some cases, male hamsters can die after being attacked by a female. If breeding hamsters, separation of the pair after mating is recommended, or they will attack each other.


title: Hamster

text: Female hamsters are also particularly sensitive to disturbances while giving birth, and may even eat their own young if they think they are in danger, although sometimes they are just carrying the pups in their cheek pouches. If captive female hamsters are left for extended periods (three weeks or more) with their litter, they may cannibalize the litter, so the litter must be removed by the time the young can feed and drink independently.


title: Hamster

text: Hamsters are born hairless and blind in a nest the mother will have prepared in advance. After one week, they begin to explore outside the nest. Hamsters are capable of producing litters every month. Hamsters can be bred after they are three weeks old. It may be hard for the babies to not rely on their mother for nursing during this time, so it is important that they are supplied with food to make the transition from nursing to eating on their own easier. After the hamsters reach three weeks of age they are considered mature.


title: Hamster

text: Syrian hamsters typically live no more than two to three years in captivity, and less in the wild. Russian hamsters (Campbell's and Djungarian) live about two to four years in captivity, and Chinese hamsters –3 years. The smaller Roborovski hamster often lives to three years in captivity.


title: Hamster

text: The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian hamster ("Mesocricetus auratus"), which is the type most commonly kept as pets. There are numerous Syrian hamster variations including long-haired varieties and different colors. British zoologist Leonard Goodwin claimed most hamsters kept in the United Kingdom were descended from the colony he introduced for medical research purposes during the Second World War. Hamsters were domesticated and kept as pets in the United States at least as early as 1942.


title: Hamster

text: Other hamsters commonly kept as pets are the three species of dwarf hamster. Campbell's dwarf hamster ("Phodopus campbelli") is the most common—they are also sometimes called "Russian dwarfs"; however, many hamsters are from Russia, so this ambiguous name does not distinguish them from other species appropriately. The coat of the winter white dwarf hamster ("Phodopus sungorus") turns almost white during winter (when the hours of daylight decrease). The Roborovski hamster ("Phodopus roborovskii") is extremely small and fast, making it difficult to keep as a pet.


title: Hamster

text: A hamster show is an event in which people gather hamsters to judge them against each other. Hamster shows are also places where people share their enthusiasm for hamsters among attendees. Hamster shows feature an exhibition of the hamsters participating in the judging.


title: Hamster

text: The judging of hamsters usually includes a goal of promoting hamsters which conform to natural or established varieties of hamsters. By awarding hamsters which match standard hamster types, hamster shows encourage planned and careful hamster breeding.


title: Hamster

text: When the first reported case of animal-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hong Kong took place via imported pet hamsters, researchers expressed difficulty in identifying some of the viral mutations within a global genomic data bank, leading city authorities to announce a mass cull of all hamsters purchased after December 22, 2021, which would affect roughly 2,000 animals. After the government 'strongly encouraged' citizens to turn in their pets, approximately 3,000 people joined underground activities to promote the adoption of abandoned hamsters throughout the city and to maintain pet ownership via methods such as the forgery of pet store purchase receipts. Some activists attempted to intercept owners who were on their way to turn in pet hamsters and encourage them to choose adoption instead, which the government subsequently warned would be subject to police action.


title: Hamster

text: Some similar rodents sometimes called "hamsters" are not currently classified in the hamster subfamily Cricetinae. These include the maned hamster, or crested hamster, which is really the maned rat ("Lophiomys imhausi"). Others are the mouse-like hamsters ("Calomyscus" spp.), and the white-tailed rat ("Mystromys albicaudatus").


title: Preity Zinta

text: Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in "Dil Se.." in 1998, followed by a role in "Soldier" in the same year. These performances earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in "Kya Kehna" (2000). She subsequently established a career as a leading actress of Hindi cinema with a variety of character types. Her roles, often deemed culturally defiant, along with her unconventional screen persona have been credited with contributing to a change in the concept of Indian film heroines, and won her several accolades.


title: Preity Zinta

text: Following critically appreciated roles in "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke" (2001), "Dil Chahta Hai" (2001), "Dil Hai Tumhaara" (2002), and "Armaan" (2003), Zinta received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Kal Ho Naa Ho" (2003). She starred in two consecutive annual top-grossing films in India, "Koi... Mil Gaya" (2003) and "Veer-Zaara" (2004), and was noted for her portrayal of independent, modern Indian women in "Salaam Namaste" (2005) and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" (2006), top-grossing productions in overseas markets. For her first international role in the Canadian drama "Heaven on Earth" (2008) she was awarded the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress and nominated for the Genie Award for Best Actress. She followed this with a hiatus from acting work for several years, with the exception of her self-produced comeback film, "Ishkq in Paris" (2013), which failed to leave a mark.


title: Preity Zinta

text: Zinta is also a social activist, television presenter and stage performer. Between 2004 and 2005, she wrote a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia. She is the founder of the production company PZNZ Media, a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Punjab Kings since 2008, and the owner of the South-African T20 Global League cricket team Stellenbosch Kings since 2017. Zinta is known in the Indian media for publicly speaking her mind, and consequently has sparked the occasional controversy. These controversies include her being the sole witness not to retract in court her earlier statements against the Indian mafia during the 2004 Bharat Shah case, for which she was awarded the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award.


title: Preity Zinta

text: Preity Zinta was born on 31 January 1975 into a Hindu Rajput family from Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh. Her father, Durganand Zinta, was an officer in the Indian Army. He died in a car accident when she was thirteen; the accident also involved her mother, Nilprabha, who was severely injured and consequently remained bedridden for two years. Zinta called the tragic accident and her father's death a significant turning point in her life, which forced her to mature rapidly. She has two brothers; Deepankar and Manish, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish lives in California.