LD 410 Results (Day 1)

it was strange not staying up all night to see the results come in, and stranger still not to be at a count.    However I was busy once they started to flow in the afternoon , as I was doing a two hour stint on the  BBC results programme (from my study by Skype)   part of the time with Ruth Davidson who made the outlandish claim that she wasn't on the Tory campaign team, even though every household in Scotland had at least one (and probably more than one) leaflet featuring messages from her !

Nicola's victory speech at her own count was superb , but the result of the day for me was Jenni Minto's resounding victory in Argyll & Bute which, by a wonderful serendipity, I got to comment on first on TV , as it was announced just before I was due to finish my stint, and whilst I was actually speaking about something else !   

I have some more media to do tomorrow and things are looking good.   After 14 years in Government the SNP is still winning new seats, and will I am pretty sure record the highest vote of any party in a Holyrood election since devolution in 1999.

None the less there are also sad personal moments and I felt particularly for John Scott in Ayr, with whom I was at University.  Having lost my own seat in 2003 I know what a painful experience it is.