High pressures squeeze and crush, but low pressures damage too. Losing the atom-level buzz that keeps us held safe in the balance of internal and external pressure releases dangerous storms, disorientation and pain, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

THERESA MAY threw away Tory domination by losing seats in the general election. So last month she tried to build it up again by using the undemocratic bit of government — May created nine new Tory lords, plus one DUP lord.
In the general election, the Tories got 13.6 million votes, Labour got 12.8m votes, and the DUP got 292,000 votes. But Labour got just three new lords out of the process.
So was this an undemocratic attempt to shore up the Tories by giving jobs to unimpressive cronies? Of course it was. After all, one of the new Lords is Eric Pickles. He couldn’t make it as a minister, so he becomes a lord.

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES