So far, the “let’s wait and see” mantra is continuing the way it was when I went to bed just after midnight. We’ve been waiting and seeing since April 7th, and all things British being the way they are, we’ll be waiting and seeing for most of the weekend. I also suspect we’ll be waiting (without seeing) for proportional STV representation for some time yet. Still, five more years after fifty-four years is not that big a cross to bear.

The best interview I saw was that with Lord Ashcroft. He came across throughout as focused, straight, dignified and clinically accurate – or everything that Ed Balls isn’t. And thanks to an excellent series of searching probes by Andrew Neill, we now know for sure that Ashcroft will pay UK taxes, stay in the Lords, and stand down from the Tory Party. It was an oasis of clarity and determination in a night of amoral dissembling. He’s probably not a very nice man – but he doesn’t pretend to be: that is at least something.

I won’t be waiting to see if the British can organise something without it being a shambles, because that’s something we shall never see again. With every poll suggesting a huge increase in turnout, a real level at less than half of that was enough to disenfranchise thousands of voters. It was the usual mixture of useless bureaucrats, and everyone leaving everything until the last minute. As such, it was an allegory for our times.

Also aptly allegorical is the utter confusion caused by the ‘result’. So great is the complexity of this electoral jigsaw, psephologists will be demanding a recount for decades. Zak Goldsmith wins, Charles Clarke loses, Margaret Hodge doubles her majority, LibDem voters don’t turn up, Tories lose easy seats and win very difficult ones….after only half a night’s sleep, it’s too early for real insights just yet.

We’ll have to wait and see. Aaaaarg….