It's 5 in the morning....

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Dawn has arrived through the windows, and light is being shed on the outcome of this General Election.   I've seen some of my hopes being realised, but also some of the fears.  I'll be going to be in two minds over what I've been seeing, and knowing there is still no certainty over what the next government will look like.

Watching the Scottish results has been an incredibly exhilarating experience, a decisive moment in history.  The SNP aren't just set to return a record number of MPs, but will have done so by taking more than 50% of the popular vote.  With only three seats still to declare they have taken all but three of the 56 results, leaving one Labour, one Lib Dem and one Tory.

I think I need to write one phrase of that sentence again.  One Labour.  There were forty one Scottish Labour MPs going into the election.  They have been unseated not by a series of narrow victories, but by some of the most incredible swings ever seen in British politics.  Swings of around 25% have been commonplace, with the record breaker being a near unbelievable 39%.  In a large number of seats the SNP candidate has taken over 50% of the votes cast.  While the three unionist winners have done so by quite small numbers.

Scotland has changed, dramatically.  England, it appears, hasn't.  It's almost as if we were two different countries....

It's hard to comprehend from up here, but the Tories look to be increasing their share of the vote, and number of seats.  Possibly so much so that they will gain a overall majority, so there may not be the anticipated horse trading to come.  If it does the shape it will take is uncertain.  Nick Clegg clung on to his own seat, but his party has fared badly, losing many of their big names like Simon Hughes and Vince Cable.  As I write the Lib Dems have six seats, and have lost thirty.  Will whatever numbers they and the Tories finally achieve be sufficient to keep the coalition going?  Would the Liberals even want to do so, given the harm it's done them?

In the bad news section is the return of Boris the buffoon to parliament.  But we can take some encouragement from the failure of ukip to make any progress.  They have narrowly held on in Clacton with Tory turncoat Carswell.  But that may be their only success of the night.  And one of the most joyous moments is promising to be the news that Farage has failed, yet again, to become an MP.  If he's actually being honest for once then he should be quitting as the Dear Leader and heading for the obscurity he so deserves.  That may signal the beginning of the end for ukip.  So something good may come out of this election.

Is the UK heading for an inevitable federalism?  Or even break-up?  Interesting times ahead.


While I've been typing the SNP have taken yet another two seats off the Lib Dems.  Including that off Beaker, Osborne's front man.  There's a bit of a pattern here....


PS 6am and time for a bit of sleep (maybe).  At least I can go to bed on one bit of good news - the vile Esther McVey has been thrown out.  Good riddance.