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Ahahahah! Finally we are rid of those arseholes. Well, most of them anyway. I mean, things aren't actually going to get much better any time soon (the country is too fucked for that so at least two terms will be needed, plus Labour have already said they won't change a lot of really bad things, and the country is still run by the right wing media barons that fucked it up) but it's still a relief to see them finally kicked out, having taken more than eight years of my life. I was young(ish) then. Now I am ancient.
I never believed the predictions that the Tories could be pushed below the Lib Dems in seat numbers (sadly, the loss of Official Opposition perks might have finished them off) or that Sunak would lose his seat (which would have been hilarious) so was satisfied with them being booted out and several prominent ones losing their seats. If I could only pick one Tory to stand there in humiliation as the results were read out it would have been Rees-Mogg so that was very satisfying.
I almost made it to 5am to see it live despite nasty headache*, but had to go and have a lie down while the rumours of his demise were still swirling. Woke up a couple of hours later to confirmation plus bonus Truss, which I was not expecting. Yay!
Unfortunately Reform also won 5 seats but the highest prediction was 13 so could have been a lot worse. And of course the media is fawning over Farage like they always do and making it all about him, but actually Reform got a similar vote share to UKIP in 2015, so they haven't actually advanced much (i.e. the country is still about 15% bigots/gullible fools), they have just targeted better same as Labour and the Lib Dems and the Greens and put resources into winning seats off the Tories where they are best placed to. So we have identified the 5 most bigoted areas of the country and can decide never to go there.
It feels very much like the last roll of the dice for the UK though. Either Farage will complete his takeover of the Tories, or the Tories will now lurch even further right - it's notable that most of the Tories that lost their seats were the more moderate ones while many of the most extreme held on. I reckon this is because Reform mainly split the vote in areas where the Tory candidate was more moderate - in some areas the incumbent Tory was extreme enough for the racists to get behind them instead of switching to Reform (e.g. Braverman, Patel, Badenoch). So the lesson the Tories will probably choose to take from this is that they should keep trying to out-Farage Farage, and the dwindling number of old rich white men which make up most of their membership will again elect the maddest candidate. Plus there are pretty much no moderate Tories left to stand for leadership.
Either way, we're likely going into the next election with Labour having been unable to improve things much, discontent stirred up by the media and a far right party as the only alternative which can be elected under FPTP. Plus very likely far right governments both across the channel and across the Atlantic. Good luck everyone.
Still, at least we had one night of glee as (some of) the people who destroyed the country finally got their comeuppance. May they now disappear into obscurity or ignominy.
* I frequently wake up with a bad headache after an evening out (and no, I don't drink) and on Thursday I had been to choir followed by pub singalong, which causes me a morning headache about a third of the time (combination of loud environment plus dehydration I think). Usually it gets bad enough to wake me up by about 4 or 5am, so it was kind of interesting (though not fun) to feel it develop while still awake for a change. I had a nap for a hour or two after I got home then woke up a bit before 2am for the results feeling OK, but mild headache started about an hour later and got worse and worse over the next two until it was too much. I guess that's the pattern it usually follows except that I am asleep for the first couple of hours while it's developing. In this case being sleep deprived made it worse I think because painkillers didn't really touch it until about lunchtime.
I never believed the predictions that the Tories could be pushed below the Lib Dems in seat numbers (sadly, the loss of Official Opposition perks might have finished them off) or that Sunak would lose his seat (which would have been hilarious) so was satisfied with them being booted out and several prominent ones losing their seats. If I could only pick one Tory to stand there in humiliation as the results were read out it would have been Rees-Mogg so that was very satisfying.
I almost made it to 5am to see it live despite nasty headache*, but had to go and have a lie down while the rumours of his demise were still swirling. Woke up a couple of hours later to confirmation plus bonus Truss, which I was not expecting. Yay!
Unfortunately Reform also won 5 seats but the highest prediction was 13 so could have been a lot worse. And of course the media is fawning over Farage like they always do and making it all about him, but actually Reform got a similar vote share to UKIP in 2015, so they haven't actually advanced much (i.e. the country is still about 15% bigots/gullible fools), they have just targeted better same as Labour and the Lib Dems and the Greens and put resources into winning seats off the Tories where they are best placed to. So we have identified the 5 most bigoted areas of the country and can decide never to go there.
It feels very much like the last roll of the dice for the UK though. Either Farage will complete his takeover of the Tories, or the Tories will now lurch even further right - it's notable that most of the Tories that lost their seats were the more moderate ones while many of the most extreme held on. I reckon this is because Reform mainly split the vote in areas where the Tory candidate was more moderate - in some areas the incumbent Tory was extreme enough for the racists to get behind them instead of switching to Reform (e.g. Braverman, Patel, Badenoch). So the lesson the Tories will probably choose to take from this is that they should keep trying to out-Farage Farage, and the dwindling number of old rich white men which make up most of their membership will again elect the maddest candidate. Plus there are pretty much no moderate Tories left to stand for leadership.
Either way, we're likely going into the next election with Labour having been unable to improve things much, discontent stirred up by the media and a far right party as the only alternative which can be elected under FPTP. Plus very likely far right governments both across the channel and across the Atlantic. Good luck everyone.
Still, at least we had one night of glee as (some of) the people who destroyed the country finally got their comeuppance. May they now disappear into obscurity or ignominy.
* I frequently wake up with a bad headache after an evening out (and no, I don't drink) and on Thursday I had been to choir followed by pub singalong, which causes me a morning headache about a third of the time (combination of loud environment plus dehydration I think). Usually it gets bad enough to wake me up by about 4 or 5am, so it was kind of interesting (though not fun) to feel it develop while still awake for a change. I had a nap for a hour or two after I got home then woke up a bit before 2am for the results feeling OK, but mild headache started about an hour later and got worse and worse over the next two until it was too much. I guess that's the pattern it usually follows except that I am asleep for the first couple of hours while it's developing. In this case being sleep deprived made it worse I think because painkillers didn't really touch it until about lunchtime.
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I suppose it's the population size that makes it a longer process. In NZ we know who won, or at least who will be forming a government with smaller parties, pretty early in the evening. To be fair our last two were landslides, in opposite directions, and called early.
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There are a couple of constituencies which race to get the first result, usually a bit after 11pm, but they are both safe Labour seats so don't tell us much (although that doesn't stop the pundits from speculating endlessly for the next couple of hours until more interesting results come in). Those constituencies have the advantage of being compact, so they can get the ballot boxes back to the count centre quickly, and they have loads of people there to count. Spread out constituencies e.g. the Scottish islands take longer just to start the count.
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It's interesting how some second generation immigrants turn out to be perhaps more against immigration, when you'd think that logically they would be more sympathetic to something that they benefitted from. I think money and privilege has a lot to do with it - they see themselves as 'better' than all those other immigrants so don't empathise with them but instead with the privileged who are afraid of losing their advantages. Or perhaps it's similar to Thatcher pulling up the ladder and preventing other women from advancing - she liked the special privilege she had and didn't want anyone else to get any of it.
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