Just a small point:

You know how the BBC were hailing the local election and euro-election results for Labour as a protest vote against Iraq? Well, they're at it again:

'The prime minister said he was not "deaf to the voice of the electorate" but was convinced his decision to go to war in Iraq had been right.'

This direct link (or even indirect link) made between Iraq and Labour's performance is absurd. The Liberal Democrats- main opponents of the war- won a tiny increase in the percentage of the vote they gained; just over two percent from what was already a very low point. RESPECT only did 'respectably' in London. Both put together were overshadowed by an increase in vote share of almost four percent for the BNP! Meanwhile UKIP went from zeros to heroes (so to speak- they actually increased their share of the vote by ten percent to 16.1), and pushed those anti-war, 'three party politics' Lib Dems into fourth place in the overall poll.

I pointed out earlier that it would be somewhat convenient for Labour if their defeat was seen as a protest vote over Iraq, since it is potentially a transient phenomenon. Journalists, though, are supposed to see through that kind of thing and challenge it- not simply agree because it helps to vindicate their own positions.