From Bagehot's live-blog:
According to our map-masters, 32 constituencies had declared by this time in 2005. We're well behind that schedule, presumably because of the rumoured higher turnout. A returning officer from Sheffield claims its the highest in 30 years.
Still very few results. You can watch BBC's live-stream and live-blog here. Nick Robinson bemoans the process:
Voters locked out of polling stations, ballot papers running out, scuffles inside polling stations, sit-ins, the police called, some able to vote after 10pm while others were blocked from doing so.
What a tragedy that, after a campaign which engaged and energised many who were previously cynical about politics, tonight's story may be being over-shadowed by the extraordinary revelation that Britain cannot competently run the most basic part of the democratic process.
John Cassidy counters Niall Ferguson:
In my opinion, Britain’s long-term economic difficulties have been overstated, and its political firmament has been misinterpreted. With an economic recovery already under way, I expect the fiscal arithmetic to steadily improve, and the scare stories about Britain turning into Greece to be discredited. From a political perspective, today’s victor…will enter office with the priceless asset of diminished expectations. With a budget deficit of more than ten per cent of G.D.P., most Britons accept the need fiscal retrenchment, which, in any case, can be blamed on Gordon Brown’s financial mismanagement. By 2015, when the next scheduled election is due, most of the harsh measures will have been taken, the economic outlook is likely to be much brighter, and the incumbent party will be well-placed for reëlection. (If there is a hung parliament, things get a bit more complicated, with another election likely later this year or early next. But I would still expect the party that emerges as the victor of that contest to be reëlected in 2015.)
A Greek man is reflected in a broken mirror as he checks newspapers in the center of Athens on May 6, 2010. A fire-bomb attack on a bank in Greece killed at least three people on May 5, as police fought pitched battles with striking protesters furious at brutal budget cuts designed to avert national bankruptcy. Greek unions mobilized Thursday for new demonstrations against draconian austerity cuts as the government raced to push the unprecedented measures through parliament a day after deadly rioting. By Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images.
It has been revised:
Tories fall back slightly in exit poll. They're now on 305, down from 307. Labour on 255, unchanged. Lib Dems up from 59 to 61.
And one begins to despair just a little bit more:
"We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual. Boys play with boys, girls play with girls," [Brazilian Archbishop Dadeus Gring] said. "If there is no proper guidance, this sticks. The question is how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?"
Grings also said the acceptance of homosexuality in society could pave the way for the acceptance of pedophilia.
"When sexuality is trivialized, it's clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. Before, the homosexual wasn't spoken of. He was discriminated against. When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of pedophiles,"
From Coffee house:
The first result of the night is in, and Labour hold Houghton and Sunderland South. Bridgit Philipson wins with 19,137 votes (over 50 percent). The Tories are in second with 8,147 votes (21 percent). The swing to the Tories, from the last election, is 8.4 percent – over the total that they need nationally for a majority.
Lucas advises:
Not much to read into this, as it appears a lot of the swing is due to the independent candidate who ran on local issues.
"This is a decisive rejection of Labour. We can govern with this result."- David Cameron.
Paul Mitchell examines instances of hung parliaments across Europe:
Looking across 17 west European countries in the post 1945 period, nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of all government’s were coalition cabinets. The rest were obviously single party governments, but of these 23 per cent were one-party minority governments. Only 13 per cent (one in eight) were single party majority governments, produced by ‘non-hung’ parliaments. Of these 53 one party majority governments, 20 of them were British. Only Norway, Greece and Ireland have ever had more than 5 single party governments since 1945.
Renard Sexton has more along these lines.
Countering the WSJ, Bainbridge defends Faisal Shahzad's constitutional rights:
The so-called privilege against self-incrimination emerged in English law during the 1600s in response to the brutalities of royal "justice." By the end of the 1600s it had become not just a privilege, but a basic constitutional right. Moreover, it was a right not only to remain silent, but also virtually a right to be protected against classes of forbidden questions. To effectuate that right, the exclusionary rule forbade introduction of evidence obtained by coercion, threats, promises, or torture. Yet, that rule should be understood not only as a rule of evidence. It was also intended as a prophylactic ban on coercion and torture in interrogations. The Miranda warnings followed in due course as a further prophylactic ban on coercion.
This is now the struggle – between law and coercion. The GOP leadership favors coercion and spent eight years trashing core values of Anglo-American civilization, ostensibly in its defense. History will not be kind.
The Dish 