I thought I'd give myself a few days to digest the election results before commenting, because my initial gut reaction was rage. Into Thursday evening the rage gave way to depression which lasted well into the night. This was part of the reason I stopped updating the site with the results as they came in (although a couple of pints helped make me feel better).

So what happened exactly? It looks like the DUP's scare tactics were a success, with many candidates reporting that they were hearing "but we don't want a Sinn Fein First Minister" on the doorsteps. It sickens me that the unionist electorate are so content at being blackmailed like this.

We kept being told through the campaign that this election would be about bread-and-butter issues. In fact yesterday, after most of the votes were counted, Tony Blair was still keeping up this pretence, saying "The issues were amazingly, in a sense hearteningly enough, water rates, health, education and the economy and so on." What election was he watching exactly? Perhaps Tony could answer me as to why, if this election was about bread-and-butter issues, that the party who topped the poll (and increased their vote on last time out) spent the first half of their 64-page manifesto spouting macho bullshit about how much tougher they were with Sinn Fein and the IRA than their unionist colleagues? Didn't think so.

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"I have successfully broken the strength of Sinn Fein," So says Ian Paisley on UTV's election coverage.

Let me get this right. Sinn Fein are set to get their best election result in history and Big Ian reckons he's broken their strength?

It just proves what I've been saying for years. Ian Paisley has lost the plot.

Sinn Fein and the DUP feed off each other, they need each other. Their antagonistic brand of politics means they need a bogeyman and they act as perfect bogeymen for each others' tribe. All they have to do to rouse the rabble is hold up an image of the other.

This is all after he was on TV earlier ranting on about righteousness (I think it was a victory for "believers in democracy and righteousness" or something like that) and making scarily similar noises to a Jihadist. How can people continuously vote for this nut bar?

When the first election results were coming in I ran updates for a short time. The last of these is now here for archive purposes only.

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Britain could soon be electing the upper house of Parliament (pictured).
Image © Parliamentary Copyright.

A slight destraction from the election before counting begins tomorrow, as MPs today voted for a completely elected upper chamber of Parliament to replace the House of Lords.

At the risk of sounding anti-democratic, I have a few problems with the idea of an elected second chamber, but I'm pleasantly surprised to say that the government proposals actually look like they might, just might, manage to reduce the potential impact of what I see as the problems - namely dominance of party-politics and career politicians and a loss of expertise.

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With the election due to kick off in just over 7 hours I just want to take a last chance to urge people to vote for parties outside the big 4 as their first preference.

Don't fall for the DUP's scaremongering. They just don't want you to exercise your free will. If you vote for a "maverick" or an independent or smaller party who don't get elected your vote is not wasted, because you'll get your 2nd choice instead, or your third choice. That's the whole point of the PR-STV ballot!

I know I'm not the only person in this country that's tired of the big four parties' endless bickering and showboating. There are more important things to sort out; like education, realistic options for water charges (like meters) and putting an end to the white elephant at the Maze! If people are still that worried about the sectarian headcount they can still put the unionist or nationalist choice as 2 or 3 or 4 anyway.

A panel of 6 such candidates (from the Workers' Party, Greens, Conservatives, UK Unionists and the Progressive Unionists, as well as Rainbow George) answered questions from the public in a BBC webcast which is still available online. So if you haven't made your mind up yet, go check it out.

Yesterday an American visitor going under the pseudonym Eireann posted a comment on another thread asking a few questions about Ireland. Specifically, he/she was having trouble with the concept of why Ireland was divided and why we couldn't all just unite and live happily ever after. It was difficult to know where to start, and definitely beyond the remit of a follow-up comment on a more-or-less unrelated thread, nevertheless I set about formulating some sort of response.

It's not easy to try and explain the logic behind Northern Ireland (never mind the centuries preceding its existence) and unionism to outsiders, most of whom are familiar with the lovey-dovey dreams of republicans to reclaim their "fourth green field" from the "saxon oppressor", but who hear little of the alternative point of view. I'm always up for a challenge though.

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Not social class, degree class. A recent report has shown that men are being passed over for well-paying jobs because they're taking tougher courses at university than women. One-third of graduate jobs being advertised to graduates of any discipline with a 2:1 or better degree, which gives an undue advantage to people studying softer degrees like Psychology and English. As it turns out, this disproportionately disadvantages men, who are still opting for more rigorous degrees like Physics or Engineering.

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Wow. As I was recovering from a hangover today I heard the post and got up to find I had been inundated with election material. Every party from the UK Unionists to the Workers Party to the "Procapitalism" candidate.

Included in this was a leaflet from the DUP. Of all the literature, and I include Sinn Fein's leaflet in this, the DUP one was the most depressing. It was cynical and base. There was virtually no mention of policy other than the obligatory 'we oppose water charges' statement. Unsurprisingly, the first quarter of the what little actual content there is in the leaflet is spent attacking the Ulster Unionists, basically for going into government with Sinn Fein. It gets worse though. Remember a few weeks back I predicted that the DUP would use the threat of a Sinn Fein First Minister to try to blackmail unionist voters into voting DUP rather than other unionist parties even though it was the DUP that are to blame for this situation in the first place? (They negotiated the "majority designation" clause out of the agreement at St Andrews)

Well, surprise surprise, the last quarter of the content reads "Any unionist votes which are cast for minor unionist parties or political mavericks will be votes, which could diretly help Sinn Fein increase its number of ministers in any Executive and increase the chances of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister."

Maybe it's just me but I would have thought that a party with a few half-decent ideas would be able to give enough reasons to vote for them without having to resort to threats and scaremongering (the NI Conservatives, in contrast, have become the first party to develop a pair of balls and come out publicly against the Maze stadium proposals AKA 'the white elephant'). I refuse, on principle, to be bullied into voting for anyone so I think the DUP have just secured a position near the bottom of my vote. If they're lucky they'll be just above the SDLP and Sinn Fein.

Government research on the mainland is indicating that providing public services in foreign languages for non-English speakers is not only costing upwards of £100m a year (including £55m in the NHS), but isolating communities from each other. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein and their new MOPE poster-girl "Maire Nic An Bhaird" are continuing their efforts to create language barriers where none presently exist.

Remember, these millions are being spent on translating for people who can't speak English; by pushing for the new Irish Language Act to be rights-based one, republicans are demanding that the government spend proportionally similar sums on translations for people who can!

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A jar of air. A novel idea for a souvenir or consumerism gone mad?

Some might think it cynical, others genius. It's been said that one can sell absolutely anything on eBay - perhaps this will be the ultimate test of that assertion (actually, having seen some of the other things selling, perhaps this is tame by comparison).

Last night, up for auction went one jar of "Genuine, Pure Irish Sea Air (from Ireland)," which is described as the "Perfect Saint Patrick's Day Gift." To that end, international delivery is promised in time for the big day.

Open to bids from all over Europe, North America and Australia, it's described as "a little piece of Ireland" that you can take with you wherever you go. The question is, how much will it fetch?