A further correction. Labour isn't working on election night

Are you looking forward to election night?  The adrenalin rush, the exit poll, the slow build up to the results, the 2010 “Michael Portillo moment”, Paxman rubbing the loser’s humiliation into their wounds and the masterful David Dimbleby doing it for one last time.  Calm yourselves.  A good nights sleep you may well get:

Council staff who want to protect their 9-5 existence are threatening to ruin live television coverage of the next general election results by refusing to count the votes on polling day.

Electoral returning officers in as many as one in four local authorities are considering abandoning the traditional Thursday night count.

Several major councils, including Newcastle upon Tyne, have already opted for a Friday count. Officials in Leeds, York, Gloucestershire and the London borough of Lewisham are among those considering it.

Some councils say the cost of hiring several dozen tellers cannot be justified at a time of cutbacks

HMQ will not be pleased with this arrangement.  She will want to her new Prime Minister to have ‘kissed hands’ by lunchtime on the Friday, so she can leave London for the weekend before the evening rush hour.  Maybe Our Dave will be asked to drive to Windsor?

Let us hope these little local difficulties can be resolved so the election night traditions of this country can be maintained.  Of course it is all Brown’s fault.  If he hadn't ruined the economy, we wouldn't need the cutbacks!