Blair sets 5 May as election date

Blair sets 5 May as election date

Ahh, THIS should inspire me to some writing. An election to watch with no work involved for me and some fun comparative politics:

The UK's 2 1/2 plus party system.

The question of which party, the Tories or Liberals, is the half-party and where: "In the English South-west, Labour barely count and the real contest is between Tories and Liberal Democrats. In large parts of the English north, it is a Labour-Lib Dem fight, with the Conservatives out of it."

The joys of tactical voting.

The impact of Scottish reapportionment - they lose seats which disproportionately hurts Labour

Northern Ireland, where they play REAL hardball with bullets and bombs. "With Sinn Fein and the DUP continuing to advance against the once-dominant parties of Northern Ireland, that should be interesting too."

My gut check is Blair and Labour (aah, Anglophile spelling) will win on sheer inertia but Tony won't complete the term. The big question is whether Tory disarray will drop them into third place, either in popular vote or in actual MPs making the Lib Dems the Loyal Opposition.

Politics