This just came in:
Gordon Brown was dealt a devastating blow tonight as James Purnell quit the Cabinet and told him to stand down to save the Labour Party.
The Work and Pensions Secretary’s sensational decision, given to the Prime Minister shortly before polling ended in the European and local elections, left an already damaged Mr Brown in grave peril. He told Mr Brown to stand aside and give Labour a “fighting chance of winning”.
It is defintely …

Russia has taken one step forward in creating its own “true” history by officially saying now that World War II was Poland’s fault. Russian Defence Ministry sources also said that Germany didn’t have a decisive role in eruption of the war, Estonian Daily Newspaper reports (translation follows).
“Second World War erupted because Poland declined to give in to Hitler’s demands to give up some of its territory to the fascists,” Defence Ministry sources were quoted saying. …

David Carradine has departed this life:
“Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room Wednesday, his manager told FOX News Thursday.
Chuck Binder said Carradine, 73, was staying in Bangkok while shooting a movie. The film crew became aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant yesterday. When a producer went to his room, he discovered that the actor had died.
A statement on behalf of his family …

Interesting figures from a YouGov/Telegraph poll:
European voting intention (those 10/10 Certain to vote; excluding Don’t Know and Wouldn’t Vote)
Conservative 27
Labour 17
UKIP 16
Liberal Democrat 15
Green 9
BNP 7
SNP / PC 4
Others 6
See, how small is the gap between Labour, LibDems and UKIP? Considering that every poll has an error margin, that might very well mean that both UKIP and LibDems will beat Labour. Especially considering this.
There were also other interesting figures in the poll. 72% of people …

Estonian blue-black-white tricolour flag celebrates its 125th birthday today. It was on 4th of June, 1884 when the Estonian Students’ Society – the authors of the flag – consecrated it in the hall of the pastorate of Otepää.
Years later, when Estonia was trying to break off from Russian Empire, that flag became a symbol of nationalism (in the positive sense) and independence. When the Declaration of Independence was issued on 24th of February, 1918, this …

Dedicated to today’s election day:

Dictatorships have always ruled by fear and terror. Soviet Union was a great example of that, and so was China. But when Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991, the Chinese dictatorship is, despite of all the crimes against people and humanity, still allowed to exist.
Today 20 years ago the Chinese army killed hundreds or even thousands of people who didn’t like to live in dictatorship. They killed peaceful protesters who wanted a thing so …

Getting up and voting early was rewarding, the polling station was almost empty and the whole process took a minute and half.
Naturally, I voted for Conservatives. You go out and vote for them, too!
A couple of interesting points:
1. No one asked for an ID, confirming the name and address was enough.
2. They had *pencils* for marking the ballot, and as we know, pencil marks are far easier removed than pen marks.
Don’t these issues contribute to …