E-Day. Everything Bobby Brown dreamed of.

8:30ishpm UPDATE:

And now for the science bit...

OK, I've dug out for you, dear reader, the best most concise version on what happens should we be left with a hung parliament, because there not being once since I have been alive, I was a little sketchy on the details myself.

And here it is. Knock yourself out. Good ol' BBC.

The bit I love the most? That it's up to old Gord, nay, it's his duty, to stay in power until they can work out which party or combination of parties can 'command the most support in parliament'.

There's gold at the rainbow's end after all, eh Mr Brown?

8:00pm UPDATE:

2 hours until the polls close - where did the day go? I'm told the rain's holding off in most areas around the UK, which is good news for those without umbrellas (do people really not vote because of the rain?).

Attention turns to TV coverage - BBC and ITV start at 9.55pm (will they play The Final Countdown in the final minutes? I hope so...).



Channel 4's hugely advertised 'alternative election night' starts at 9pm with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, Lauren Laverne and Charlie Brooker. Lauren Lavern? Really?

Anyway, BBC2 and Ch5 are ignoring all things political tonight which is probably for the best.

Currently loving this BBC slideshow of all kinds of odd polling situations, including hair salons, pubs and local shops. In a nutshell, that's why I love this country. Good on you, Britain.


6:30pm UPDATE:

OK I've stocked up. Fruit, chocolate, crisps, caffeine. The telly's on (admittedly right now it's Friends on E4 - hey - I've only got a year left!), computer's on, laptop's on...

Has anyone noticed the Facebook 'have you voted' banner on the Newsfeed? Mines showing 1,087,598 Facebook users have voted so far. A little bit of digging takes us to a 'Democracy in the UK' page, which in turn takes us to the YouTube and Facebook digital debate where you can watch virals of the Part Leaders talking about issues like immigration and the digital economy bill (of course...).

Never has an election been so targeted at the under 30s (*smug yet alarmed I fit into this category only by a month). It will be very interesting to see how many of the younger generation turn out to vote.

I've also found this Yahoo Twitter map which follows what each of your constituency candidates are tweeting about. Crafty.

Here, the Guardian talks about turnout:

Ladbrokes report that their biggest market move has been on turnout being over 70%. The odds have collapsed to 5/4 (from 15/8 this morning) on turnout topping the 70% mark.
A 70% turnout would be very high in the context of recent history, although turnout did used to be routinely above 70% and even topped 80% twice in the 1950s.

4:45pm UPDATE:

As most people's working day comes to a close, trendsmap show this pic of tweets in the uk:

This from the Guardian about Farge:

Farage's campaign manager, Chris Adams, said: "Apparently the plane nosedived. We had a banner attached to the back of the plane which basically got wrapped around the tail. The pilot had sent out a mayday signal, and it basically crash dived. It's all a bit of a shock, especially on polling day.

He said Farage had facial injuries and had also damaged his ribs.

Also in the wars today, Labour candidate John Benton - it's a dog's life. The BBC reports:

The Labour candidate for Bootle on Merseyside has had the tip of his finger bitten off by a dog while out campaigning. Joe Benton, 77, was taken to hospital after the animal bit him as he pushed an election leaflet through a letter box. Mr Benton has been unable to vote for himself as a result and will not be able to attend tonight's count.

We're feeling a bit jealuos abuot the BBC election reporter John Kay who's up in Slod, Gloucestershire where they have a polling station in the local pub. Sounds like a jolly good idea to me. Mine was in a church. Something of a different feeling...

2:45pm UPDATE

c/o Civics Reporter Richard Whitehouse, c/o The Graun, c/o Twitter - we don't know where it originates from, but it's a beauty:


Also doing the rounds today is this clip form last night's newsnight. Dear ol' Paxo, never one to suffer fools gladly...



2pm UPDATE:

Let it never be said that election day didn't go off with a bang. Constituency candidate Nigel Farage crashed in a light aircraft carrying a UKIP banner - that's dedication for you. Farage is still in hospital, but is 'comfortable' (perhaps he's got private healthcare) - no word yet on the hapless pilot. We hope (s)he's ok.

This from a UKIP spokesperson:

"Just after 8am this morning, a light aircraft carrying Nigel Farage, the Ukip MEP and chief spokesman, crashed at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airstrip in Northamptonshire. At this time we understand that the pilot has been taken to hospital in Coventry. Farage has been taken to Horton hospital in Banbury for his injuries.

Ukip is sure that everybody involved in today's general election will join us in hoping and praying that the pilot recovers from his injuries as soon as possible."

The three Kings, sorry Party Leaders have all voted in their constituencies this morning. Also, the great British public have been busying themselves today creating parodies of the Cameron poster I posted below. Click here to see the best.


A bit of election day triva for you - there are currently 646 constituencies across the UK, and a total of 42,000 polling stations dotted about. 60% of us voted at the last eleciton, but even that didn't smash the 70% turnout in 1997 when we welcomed dear Tony into No. 10 with a landslide victory.

Take That is running a close second to Bobby Brown for the E-Day song:



THIS MORNING:

So here we are. E-day. Have you voted yet?

I have. It took me rather a while to find the entrance to my polling station here in Newquay (blame the lack of signs and the Tom-Tom generation).

One vote. In the box. Democratic process - job done.

Now all we have to do is sit back and wait. And watch the telly. And read the papers.

TV cash-machine Simon Cowell announced yesterday in the Sun that Dave of the Cam's his man. Multi-millionaire Simon. Voting for Dave. Sorry if I don't faint with surprise, Mr Murdoch.

Nor does it surprise me that the Sun today is telling me that Dave's our only hope.


Are they trying to tell me that voting for Dave is the same as voting for Obama? Really? If Dave's actually our only hope I might just be crying into my pillow tomorrow morning.

But the Guardian/ICM poll taken during 3rd and 4th May shows that Dave, is in fact, slipping ahead. Tory 36%, Labour 28% and Lib Dems 26%. What happened to the Libs grand catch-up?

Funnily (or not funnily) enough the Graun agreed with me that Nick's been looking like a one trick 'roll my eyes at the other two' pony since he blew us away at the first debate by not being a figment of our imagination.

The rumour is though, that many are undecided. These people do exist. My other half is undecided.

As the rain dribbles down on a quietly excited Britain we have to hope that the weather doesn't keep people indoors and that there's still everything to play for.

I've had this song in my head all morning:



Go ahead. Vote.