First out of the gate: Sunderland (again)

Polls closed! And I take back my earlier gloom. Tonight could be a lot more interesting than I thought - the first seat to declare shows a much bigger swing away from Labour than expected. The TV exit poll predicted a much smaller Labour majority than expected - 66 seats. That's good, because anything less than 70 seats puts Blair on the defensive: there'll be pressure to give Brown the keys to Number 10.
But the actual first result suggests it's even worse than that - a safe Labour seat in the north has been returned with over 2000 fewer votes than in 2001, meaning the swing away from Labour is unusually large. And the Lib Dems seem to be benefitting.
A sparkle of hope... I will enjoy it while it lasts.