Political map of the UK

One thing this election has shown me is the validity of the SNP's argument for independence. The map is very blue down England-way, with the exception of the South West (Cornwall) and a few Uni towns (e.g. Southampton) being quite orange. So, if PR is brought in to the benefit of the Tories, as Jarndyce suggests, Scotland should offer to cut off the South West and float it up to the North East of Scotland (it'll just fit inside the Moray Firth... checked it on the atlas). Only problem with that, is the Cornish may object to the cold, wet, windy, non-surfing weather up that way...

Also, speaking of political maps, that was the ONLY phrase that stopped me from completing my Times 'Team Churchill' bingo card. And that was the only card of the 4 that came anywhere close to completion. Admittedly, Team Thatcher and Disraeli retired around 2am, and Team Churchill and Attlee was reading and amusing herself in other ways until 5am, and so may have missed a few words. Some phrases I was pretty sure didn't crop up on BBC's Dimbleby/Paxman coverage: "Blair babes", "leadership race", "are you thinking what i'm thinking", "the removal vans", "hard-working families", "dog whistle", "the real story". Quite a few of those were used intensively during the campaigns, but weren't used by the pundits on polling day. I noted a few key phrases that they should have put on: "real alternative", "and on that note", "down on the floor", "presidential", "liability", "wobble", "historic third term". That final one I'm sick of already.

09 May '05 edit: There's another coloured map; much better with shading. I yap about it here.