I’m a little nusy again today, so in lieu of posting anything more substantial, I’ll suggest that those of you who aren’t already might want to keep half an eye on the post-election wrangling here in the UK, for many reasons. First and foremost, the result was unexpected, and unusual in that it sees the UK dealing with the sort of horse-trading on policy that many European governments (and, I believe, Canada) have to go through almost every time they hold a election.

But there’s more: the turn-out is way up, echoing the recent US elections; the markets are jittery, because the economic stability of the UK is on the line; serious procedural cock-ups have portrayed the electoral process to be at best flawed, at worst broken; and finally, no one really knows what’s going to happen, which is a weird place for a traditionally two-party nation to find itself in.

And finally, it’s your chance for a masterclass in spin, razorblade diplomacy and hidden double-bluff messages in public announcements. Great fuel for writers, and (I imagine) pretty fascinating for anyone with an interest in the actual mechanics of political process. I’ll leave your choice of news source down to your personal preference, but with the suggestion that trying a channel you don’t usually plug into will bring a whole new meta-level of lessons about politics into the frame… 🙂