I don’t see the point of staying up. They’ll be counting and reporting all night - might as well go to bed and get the summary in the morning.
And my first election as a British Citizen. Looking forward to voting this evening after work.
You’ll be missing out. The first constituencies to report don’t take that long and then there is the slow creep, seeing patterns evolve. Just waking up to see numbers isn’t even close to the same thing.
And tonight the high number of Portillo moments.
Agreed.
As I have persistently said it is the elephant in the room. The Scottish question will determine the future of the whole country over the next few weeks, months and years.
It is impossible to discuss the ramifications of this election without full appreciation of the Scottish angle…
It is like being asked to discuss the 2008 US election without mentioning race or the 2016 election without mentioning gender and Bill. Or even stronger the 1968 election without mentioning Viet Nam.
Scottish and English nationalism will be a more important dimension than left/right or pro/anti Europe for the next few years.
No government can serve a full term without a acquiescence from over represented Scotland.
The approach to devolution/ independence by each party will affect this a acquiescence.
Are you trying to put me off? Watching him and Alan Johnson sitting together on Andrew Neill’s couch nattering on inanely about nothing while grinning insipidly and looking for all the world like an old gay couple is a televisual low point of every week.
Maybe I’ll watch Channel 4’s “alternative election coverage” instead. The Last Leg is occasionally decent.
This is just very wrong. Especially when it’ so tight. Every rumour is a twist, every declaration a nuance. Wonderful drama.
Excellent! There will be a polite retired person with a list, a rickety plyboard booth, cheap pen, bit of paper - the most simple, understated, beautiful thing 
“Shit off”? Is that something the kids are saying these days?
I’ll probably hang on until about 1am but I do have to work in the morning and have a limited tolerance for talking heads telling me that they have no further news but expect to have some any minute and in the meantime here’s some nifty CGI we’ve come up with that will tell you nothing new or useful but will keep you from switching the channel. Like every other election night.
On an entirely different note, any thoughts on how hard the Conservatives are likely to bang the “legitimacy” drum? I realise this is all just preparation for a result where they have the most seats of any party but Labour get enough of a coalition (or other arrangement) to put Ed in Number 10, but they seem pretty serious about it. Do the Tories have any legal leg to stand on or is this just pre-election posturing?
They have absolutely no legal leg to stand on and the various Constitutional documents and conventions could not be any clearer on that point. The largest party by seats has absolutely no constitutional significance. Here’s a comprehensive survey by a barrister.
I’m sure you know anyway, but tonight will probably be at it’s juiciest around 2.30-3.00am. People here are talking about ‘Portillo moments’ - when they happen they really stick. Just have another coffee 
The Tories didn’t win last time, let alone this. Their claim of ‘legitimacy’ stems entirely from no party wanting to work with Gordon Brown in 2010 i.e. it’s a bogus claim. If anything their claiming some kind of squaters rights.
That’s what I thought. Still, the hissyfits could be epic, especially by the Sun.
Then you miss things like Karl Rove heading for the bowels of Fox News in order to tear off the head of the analyst that called Ohio for Obama. Or whatever the British equivalent might be.
You need something like a Fox News to facilitate people like Rove in the first place.
Not to say there is analysis, but it’s analysis, not some vested politico pretending.
The drama often comes from the live declarations and interviews - candidates trying to cling on to the tatters of political credibility as votes are counted and one pile of votes starts to look bigger than others …
This is what you’re looking at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YvnUvtC1UgDo you mean the Sun in Britain or the Sun in Scotland ? One wins either way.
Anyway, His Excellency, who is second to none in his hatred of the British State, has already pontifically announced a separate Scotland is inevitable.
Scotland is in Britain. It’s the United Kingdom the referendum was about, not Britain, which is the name for the island we’re on.
I haven’t voted yet. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic - it could be a Labour minority govt instead of the Tory minority govt I’ve been expecting. If there is a majority at all it’ll be tiny.
I just got an email (at 2.00pm). Labour still think it’s so close in Bermondsey they’re asking people to drop everything and just go over to help get the vote out - locations and phone numbers of contacts supplied.
It looks like it’s down to hundreds. Of course Highgate last time was a difference of 42 votes.
Personally, I’m doubtful … but I’m booked for 5 hours on a phone later getting exactly that vote out. Fuck Simon Hughes.
I also have trouble - more trouble than Bermondsey - believing Will Martindale has a realistic chance in Battersea but Labour HQ are pushing it like it’s worth a big one …
We shall have channel four on the TV and access BBC on tablets- information and amusement.
You must be too young to know what a Portillo moment is. ‘Sere you up for zportillo’ and ‘Portillo moment’ refer to the election night in 1997 when Portillo unexpectedly was booted out of his Enfield constituency by an unexpectedly high local swing to Labour.
I shall be having Portillo moments as LibDems and Labour major players are voted out in many Scottish seats and several high profile losses predicted for England. Farage would be the icing on the cake.
Farage has said if he doesn’t win at South Thanet he’ll resign the leadership within 10 minutes… it’s too long for me but I suppose it’ll do.