Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm not sorry

That’ll be sone going for Sinn Fein and the DUP to fail to get any seats in Northern Ireland

I hope that the result in France doesn't embolden the Far Right here. Sad times

I’ve been having those exact same worries, DavPaz.

Handy guide to the results possibly worth staying up/waking up for

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... p=drivesdk

Hullo all!

I'll be staying up for this one at a friends. I haven't taken part in any betting and I don't think I can even manage a sweepstake as I've been hurt so often these last ten or so years in all things political that I have almost a Pavlovian electroshock reaction to anything that requires me to say who I think will win.

However in the event that it is indeed good and heartening news I am taking a very special bottle of wine along which is of a particular special vintage, to be hopefully cracked open at the exit polls. In the event of somehow bad news a different but still good wine will be opened. In the event of happy good wine time I'll pop in with my tasting notes, and to let you also know how Liz Truss's tears taste to mine palate. I've also booked the day after off to cope with hangover and get a lot of Unicorn Overlord in, which I am currently addicted to.

I've also pledged for this election extended weekend not to think about politics overseas, so that hopefully I can have some moments of pure unalloyed joy envisaging that this is the start of an upward crawl to the sort of dream future along the lines of Daft Punk Interstellar 555 eternal partying, or STNG but with a better dress sense and a non-homicidal holodeck.

It’s been disheartening on my days in work hearing how people intend to vote. I’m still hopeful that Labour will get in but looking at France and the state of the UK I’m still worried what the future holds.

What have your coworkers been saying their voting intentions are?

“Ive just never voted Labour” “I like how Farage gives answers, not like the other ones” “Labour will cost us an extra £2,000” off the top of my head. I try to debunk as much as I can but for professional workers some of these are thick as pig shit… the general population scare the fuck out of me.

I've only ever voted Lib Dems or Green, (I've lived in a super safe Tory seat, then two super safe Labour seats and now for the last 16 years a super super safe Tory seat again)

But as far as I can tell the MRP individual seat polling stuff seems to suggest it will be super close with Labour this time with the reform guy stealing half of the conservative vote.

I really don't want to vote for Labour, but I'd kick myself if it was a couple of votes that decided it.

On the other hand if it's a decent victory either way, I know that for every X votes, the parties get a certain amount of money, and I would hate to deny them that.

Yeah I get the feeling loads of morons round here will vote for reform. Let's face it the thick fuckers have got form with Brexit.

"The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

Not sure times have changed since then. Jesus, if Reform somehow win or something, or the Tories get another five, due to a clusterf**k of stupidity, then I'm just going to roam the streets at night howling like the Italian writer Giovanni Guareschi did on the election of Mussolini. Howling I say. Like a dog.

Fortunately unless the polls have been consistently lying since the last bazillion years that shouldn't happen. But I've been knocking on every available bit of wood these last three weeks. I don't want to be twenty-sixteened again.

I've had to course correct my mother in law multiple times as she starts parroting reform bullshit.

My favourite: "if Labour get in, they'll raise taxes!"

"Good. I'll gladly pay another £50 a month if it means children can eat"

"oh, when you put it like that..."

Don't forget your ID, oh warriors of the Good Fight!

Happy Fuck-the-Tories Day!
Giphy "it's here!":
https://media0.giphy.com/media/fGWWHg7bKH9eFeTold/giphy-loop.mp4

Up the Beavers!!!

I've voted! as has my wife, (adult) kids are voting later.

I misread the punctuation on that and thought you were clarifying that your wife was an adult

I have voted! No queue at my polling station, which is perhaps unsurprising as I went in at 9:30am so most people will probably be at work.

I was slightly perturbed that one of the candidates were seemingly allowed to put a strapline on the ballot paper -- no other candidate had this. It was a candidate for the "English Democrats" and said strapline was "Deport all illegal immigrants!"

Also, the weather is beautiful today. A good day to kick the Tories out!

I (adult man) have also voted! There was a surprisingly group of 3 young (adult) men in their 20’s with conservative fleeces out talking to folk at the polling station. I was tempted to boo them but one put their thumb up at me and I instinctually gave them a nod. You win this time guy.

How close were they? They're not allowed to campaign on Polling Day and voter intimidation is a crime

Outside the gates of the polling station. People would have to walk by them to get in. They didn’t seem to be campaigning as such, just standing around in their fleeces.

I'd still be contacting 111 and mentioning a possible breach of Electoral rules

Yeah, fairly certain that's a breach.

I don't want to come over as a know it all, but I know all about this and yes... They are allowed to do that. Potential candidates are not allowed inside the polling station unless they're voting and even then, they need to remove all political items like rosettes etc.

But as a mod you'll be keeping a close eye on them, right? Right?

But of course Pete, I take my 14 year reign as a mod very seriously and I can't see me being voted out any time soon.

I have voted.

Sunny here too.

Crusher was outside too!

Beverly or Wesley?

Stu Francis, the grape crusher himself

So, what channel is everyone watching? I'm going to start on Channel 4, with half an eye on BBC for sir John Curtis exit poll. And I'll probably dip in/out of some of the others to see what they are saying

How long do the exit polls take to appear?

A few seconds after 10

Cannot move from sofa

That’s not great.

Only two green, more Conservatives left than expected, and 13 Deform.

Poor Steve Baker…

I'll take it!

This from someone has felt emotionally shattered every election since 2016. I don't need wipeout, I just need some god-damn hope.

First result (Sun South). Very big reform vote in 2nd, but I think significant that in 2019 Brexit+Con had enough votes combined to win. Here, Reform+Con do not.

Apparently we have become "increasingly [from what, to what, otherwise you can't use that word] presidential" (Leadsom/Rees Mogg), but Starmer (possible majority - fucking massive) is not presidential. Say more, gibbering fools.

The Reform result in the second seat declared is shocking.

Shocking but not unexpected. I always expected Reform to do well. I think Reform will take a lot of seats. The issue is how much this is from purely immigration concerns and how much of the rest is the far right culture war. Tories sowed the most fertile ground possible for Reform on the basis of immigration, while enabling them as a protest option for existing Tories.

Meanwhile the left haven't fully recovered from the Corbyn hangover and as ever don't subscribe to not letting perfect be the enemy of good. Green will have bled them a little.

Whichever way, if your watching this live, just be prepared for a lot of Reform as being 2nd. However keep in mind the number where Labour outnumber both combined. I think Reform are going to bleed from Labour, but more from Conservatives. Hopefully.

Also am torn watching C4 because I love Harriet Harman and hating Anne Widdecomb.

GODDAMN THE TIMES CAN'T PROOFREAD THEIR GODDAMN HEADLINE.

3 of them now

Also don't forget there is evil on the rise in this unstable times, but it only rises when we let it. God grant that we and Labour and others (even among the Tories) can fight it down.

We must never forget that Reform isn't a party. It's an unaccountable grafting private organisation that can promise anything. If in power in the future it would be horrible, but these viruses pass.

Good God anyway for this one night so long as Labour get a reasonably thumping majority I'm not going to let the blues infect me tonight!

Labour win in Swindon

God bless Swindon.

Another north east seat follows the same pattern

Lib Dems win from cons in Harrogate and Knaresborough