The UK Election - Some Initial Thoughts

• If Labour had got in with SNP backing and with less seats than the Tories it would have been a shambolic and weak government, so in some ways it's really just as well that they didn't get in.  

• If the Tories have a wafer-thin majority and have to deal with the EU, followed by an in-out referendum on Europe, then that is going to be fun, fun, fun for Cameron and co. There is a large element in Germany and France who think: "If you want to go then off with you and don't let the door smash you in the face on the way out - then Frankfurt or Paris can become the new London for financial services. So who cares?" In fact, this will be such a massive headache for Cameron I would not be surprised if he finds some excuse not to go ahead with it - but backtracking on the referendum will just give him a headache of another kind.

• If Labour can find a way to make David Miliband their leader they should be able to trounce the Tories in the next election. Here is a simple fact of life for Labour : if they want to get elected they need a leader who appeals to a broad spectrum of English voters, including Lib Dem types and "soft-Tories".

• I can't see how the Lib Dems can ever really recover. They no longer have any purpose except to keep the Tories in power. The argument that they have been "restraining the Tories" is a joke - they have been enabling the Tories.

•  It will be interesting to see how life in London affects the new cadre of SNP MPs. Scottish Independence could morph into one of these things that always nearly happens but never actually happens, like Quebec separating from Canada. 

• A good few people in England voted Tory because they did not like the idea of the SNP holding the balance of power with Labour in government. But I wouldn't blame Scotland for the situation - the current wave of Scottish nationalism is largely a reaction to Thatcherism - since then whenever the Tories have had power they have chosen to misuse it in ways that seriously damaged the union - so if anyone is to be blamed it is them.  

• Obviously this election result is a bad thing for the general population of the UK in the short term since it will enable to Tories to continue their war on the general population, with special focus on the weakest members of society - a war carried out on behalf of ultra-wealthy plutocrats, big finance and a right-wing press owned by foreign billionaires.