Were you still up for Balls?

[iainbhx]

Originally Posted by Basileus Giorgios

Another interesting one, Iain. I know it's a bit far back, but how did you come up with that Nadine Dorries result? The woman had a very large majority, and is still quite a popular local MP. What prompted her electorate to boot her out?

Ken Clarke's comments on A-listers may cause some raised eyebrows at Hilton towers...

Her seat had a few Lib Dem markers demographically which will have pushed the turnout and she was expenses marked, plus Linda Jack pulls no punches, more like puts knuckledusters on. Remember in southern leafy suburbia most of that extra turnout is LibDem or UKIP. Mind you, I am assured by a few people that all Mid Beds has done is pop out of the frying pan into the fire. I must say when I took Linda Jack out to lunch (with some other people) in Berlin at ELDR conference a couple of years ago - she seemed fun.

You can imagine what relations are between Ken Clarke and Hilton. There's an awful lot of Ken Clarke in Peter Mannion

[Basileus Giorgios]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

You can imagine what relations are between Ken Clarke and Hilton. There's an awful lot of Ken Clarke in Peter Mannion

Indeed! Updated map for 4:40 in preparation now.

[Basileus Giorgios]

Here's the map of twenty to five. Wondering if Jack Straw will lose his seat, sitting on an 8000 majority in Blackburn...

[iainbhx]

Originally Posted by Mackem89

Great timeline so far, though as a Leftie I'm grimacing more and more as the night goes on.

Can I put in a request for York Central if you haven't done it already? I'm here at Uni and its swung back and forth between Labour and the Tories a couple of times down the years. Hopefully Labour can hold it, but given what's happening in some other parts of Yorkshire...

York Central added to the list. A seat I have actually lived in, I think I've lived in ten current Parliamentary seats over my lifetime.

Stourbridge, Swansea West, Glasgow Central, Bethnal Green and Bow, Birmingham Edgbaston, York Central, Redditch, Birmingham Northfield, Aberdeen South and Birmingham Hall Green. In about two months that will be 11 as I move to Birmingham Yardley.

[Cymraeg]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

I can't think of a timeline where a Conservative such as Mr Dunkin-Donuts wouldn't be elected for that seat, except possibly an early 70's POD National Front wank. Whilst that would be interesting, it's a level of soiling to write it which I couldn't bring myself to.

Tell me about it. I've tried to think of a POD as well - fat chance of any of them ever happening. SID is a shoe-in here.

[thevaliant]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

In retrospect, I should have started this at Bigotgate which was far more of a car crash than OTL. Not only did Gordon not apologise, but elements of Labour followed what was too common a reaction and unleashed the forces of hell on Gillian Duffy.

No matter what, my personal view of politicians is that you never, never insult the electorate. Challenge their views, point out they may be wrong, but never insult them. Gordon in OTL did the only thing he could do which was to apologise. To not do so, in any ATL, should be political death for a party.

[iainbhx]

The NIA, Birmingham

It was 4:30, The Councillor had now been up for 24 hours, 24 very stressful hours. He could do with a shower, a sleep and a stiff drink, he was on his third packet of fags and he had to be back here at 13:00 for his local election count.

Apart from wanting to brain the DARO, the rest of the count for Yardley had gone fairly well. The DARO had spent half an hour chasing down a discrepancy of 15, only to come to the parties to grovel to allow the error and two people had pointed out his mistake in adding up. He could have been home and in bed by now. His iphone was virtually dead, battery on red and just getting the odd text from a friend, he didn't dare check email.

It was amazing who took up smoking during the duller phases of a count, the undercroft had been full of various politicians as soon as verification was over. The rumours were rife, but as the time ticked on, they firmed up. Labour were pretty unhappy, they had started off the evening a lot happier, but as counts went on, it was obvious that things were a lot closer than they had hoped for. Lemming would have the only five figure majority in Birmingham.

The Hall Green postals hadn't been as bad as he feared, but there were a lot of rejects - although this time most of them didn't have tippex applied and a carefully ruled cross in red on them. It looked like Cllr Cavetroll was in, but it might be recount or election court territory. Mind you, Hall Green always had the potential to be election court territory.

Edgbaston should have declared ages ago, but a full scale bitch-fight was in progress with hundreds of challenged ballots and constant interruptions. It didn't really matter, Ms Landshut 1973 would not be going back to Westminster and the council might have a working Health Scrutiny Committee again.

Hodge was sending the Red Mekon back to Westminster, but not with a majority as large as it had first been thought. If Tariq hadn't have been so lazy and so addicted to "deals".

Erdington was close but not too close. If Mr Harman hadn't have received lots of union love in the last two weeks, then little Bobby could have been presenting hundreds of petitions at Westminster. Just imagine if one of the other candidates in the selection had won.

Perry Barr was also safely Labour, mainly thanks to dodgy deals and a Tory spoiler campaign.

Northfield was heading for a recount, The Councillor hoped Mrs Huxtable had pulled it off, he had a pony on her at 8-1.

Selly Oak looked horrid, Radcliffe thought he had a chance, which would therefore justify his ignoring all the target seats to work on his own. Wanker. Plus he'd had money on Nasty Nigel, who had faded to third on a tidal wave of student votes. He knew that was true, Nigel had stalked out of the count about 3am.

Ladywood was recounting, The Councillor wondered why, it would end up in the Courts, either the Election Court or the Crown Court and this time, maybe the conviction would stick. If it did, he'd bring a magnum of Pol Roger to council tea and there'd be a fair few Labour councillors who would join him in the toast. Mind you, Labour still wouldn't expel the miscreants; too many powerful biraderi connections.

The council results could be interesting, he'd already heard a couple of interesting rumours, all he really cared about was that he was back in with about double his previous majority.

"Can all Yardley counters come to the declaration stage".

Thank Fuck, it was over.

[AndyC]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

York Central added to the list. A seat I have actually lived in, I think I've lived in ten current Parliamentary seats over my lifetime.

Stourbridge, Swansea West, Glasgow Central, Bethnal Green and Bow, Birmingham Edgbaston, York Central, Redditch, Birmingham Northfield, Aberdeen South and Birmingham Hall Green. In about two months that will be 11 as I move to Birmingham Yardley.

You got me to wonder how many I've lived in. I can only trace them through today's constituencies, but that would mean:

Romford, Harwich and North Essex, Kensington, Sleaford & North Hykeham, Banff & Buchan, East Hampshire, Huntingdon, Maidenhead, Aylesbury, Wantage, Uxbridge & Ruislip South. Now I'm back in Wantage. That's about eleven, I think (assuming that "West Falkland" doesn't count as a constituency?). Not bad for age 38.

[iainbhx]

Originally Posted by AndyC

You got me to wonder how many I've lived in. I can only trace them through today's constituencies, but that would mean:

Romford, Harwich and North Essex, Kensington, Sleaford & North Hykeham, Banff & Buchan, East Hampshire, Huntingdon, Maidenhead, Aylesbury, Wantage, Uxbridge & Ruislip South. Now I'm back in Wantage. That's about eleven, I think (assuming that "West Falkland" doesn't count as a constituency?). Not bad for age 38.

I could add Dublin South, Linköping, Phoenix and Düsseldorf-Friedrichstadt, but I am 46.

[Dunois]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

EM: Now onto Bath, which has been safely held by prominent LibDem Don Foster

CUBA, Bath
 
Electorate: 65,579
Turnout: 82.76%
 
Liberal Democrat Hold
 
Don Foster*     LDm  33,090  60.9%  +15.5
Fabian Richter  Con  14,498  26.7%  - 5.2
Hattie Adjerian Lab   2,677   4.9%  - 9.5
Ernie Warrender UKIP  1,928   3.6%  + 1.9
Eric Lucas      Grn   1,727   3.2%  - 2.8
Steve Hewitt    ChP     261   0.5%  + 0.5
A.N. On         Ind      72   0.1%  + 0.1
Sean Geddis     Ind      58   0.1%  + 0.1
Robert Craig    Oth      33   0.1%  + 0.1
 
Majority: 18,592 (34.2%)
Swing: Conservative to Liberal Democrat 10.3%

EM: Well, Eric and Ernie lost their deposits, but so did Hattie. A very good result for Don Foster.

Don Foster now has a ultra safe seat ...
Though it is clear that the bulk of the result is due to national swing and an even worse bigotgate and a better Clegg performance in the debates. I suspect that this might spurr some rather interesting discussions among the local Conservatives in Bath.
I was at the count that night and it was freaking hard to see all these votes going to the Lib Dems. TTL I can easily see crying faces on my side once the extent of the humiliation became clear. Three years of campaigning gone to waste ...
As it was the elections was hard for the Conservatives in the South West last year. But TTL this is even worse as it looks like apart from North East Somerset, the entire county will be yellow.

Anyway at least Hattie has lot her deposit, as they say every cloud has a silver lining .

Keep up the good work Ian!

[Tyg]

I assume that Brown ITTL will be making his post-election walk of shame flanked by Labour Party members wielding Klingon pain sticks.

As an American, I don't have personal experiences of this election, but found the TL riveting all the same.

[iainbhx]

BBC Studio

David Dimblebore: Twenty to Five on the night of the most exciting election since the Second World War and just under half the seats have declared. The high turnout means that counts are taking longer, particularly in areas with councils being elected at the same time. It looks like the Conservative party will be the largest party after this election, but without a majority. The Labour Party have taken a fearful battering and the Liberal Democrats are having their best election since the 1920’s. After 5am, we will be taking a last trip around the nations and the regions and at 6am, we will hand over to BBC Breakfast.

Chichester – Conservative Hold

DD: Our panel for this last session consists of Kenneth Clarke, re-elected MP for Rushcliffe, former Cabinet Minister and Big Beast of the Conservative Party.

Rutland and Melton – Conservative Hold

KC: And that’s a Little Beast reelected.

DD: Very droll, we also have Lord Mandelson, former MP for Hartlepool and the man behind New Labour.

South Leicestershire – Conservative Hold

DD: And Baroness Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat MEP. Here in the studio are Fiona Bruce doing news, Jeremy Vine doing analysis and the swingometer and Emily Mathis doing individual results and I’ve just been told we are going over to Rotherham for one of the most surprising results of the election.

OB Rotherham

James Vincent: Hi, David, we are about to declare. Things have been bad for Denis McShane this election, he’s been dogged by various anti-campaigns against him not related to political parties and then the expenses were dragged up again with the news that the police are investigating him. He made a speech backing Gordon Brown over Bigotgate which ended up in him being egged and now, it looks like he’s lost his seat. Here we go

Maidstone and the Weald – Liberal Democrat Gain from Conservative


I, Martin Kimber, being the Returning Officer for the Parliamentary Constituency of Rotherham do declare that the number of valid votes cast in this election was SixtyThree Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Nine. The votes were cast for each candidate as follows:

Marlene Guest, British National Party, Ten Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Four
(Some cheering, the silence, then a loud cry of “Christ”)
Dennis McShane, Labour Party, Ten Thousand Nine Hundred and Five
(Lots of booing, shouts of No Shame for McShane and “he’s been beaten by the BNP)
Rebecca Taylor, Liberal Democrat, Thirteen Thousand (Shouts of Thank Fuck for That and wild clapping). I’ll start again. Thirteen Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty Three
(More cheering and clapping)
Peter Thirlwall, United Kingdom Independence Party, Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Thirty Nine
(Some clapping)
Jackie Whiteley, Conservative Party, Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Thirty Five

And I hereby declare, the aforenamed Rebecca Taylor, the duly elected member for Rotherham.


North Warwickshire – Conservative Gain from Labour

Rotherham – Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour

JamesV: Well, David, we have a stunning result here, not only have the LibDems won the seat, but Denis McShane has been beaten by the BNP.

DD: Thank you, I hear you are headed back to Sheffield now.

JamesV: We are, they are declaring very late in Sheffield

BBC Studio

DD: Can we have the result, Emily

Rotherham

Electorate: 63,579
Turnout: 72.95%

Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour

Rebecca Taylor   LDm   13,133  28.3%  +11.9
Marlene Guest    BNP   10,994  23.7%  +17.8
Dennis McShane*  Lab   10,905  23.5%  -34.2
Peter Thirlwall  UKIP   6,539  14.1%  +10.2
Jackie Whiteley  Con    4,835  10.4%  - 6.0

Majority : 2,139 (4.6%)
Swing: BNP to Liberal Democrat -2.9%

EM: That’s another contender for worst Labour result of the night.

Hastings and Rye – Conservative Gain from Labour

JV: The Coalfield, South Wales and Tyneside results have been very bad. Throw in a side order of expenses and a very metropolitan MP and you have a disaster.

Newcastle upon Tyne Central - Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour

EM: Well, the Lib Dems said they thought they had a clean sweep in Newcastle and they have, that’s also half the seats declared now.

DD: Only half way through at 04:44, oh dear.

EM: I’m afraid so, here’s a couple more results

Kent, Maidstone and the Weald

Electorate : 71,013
Turnout : 76.91%

Liberal Democrat Gain from Conservative

Peter Carroll   LDm   24,405  44.6%  +22.4
Helen Grant     Con   22,089  40.5%  -10.3
Rav Seeruthun   Lab    3,615   6.6%  -17.6
Gareth Kendall  UKIP   2,523   4.6%  + 1.6
Gary Butler     BNP    1,261   2.3%  + 2.3
Stuart Jeffery  Grn      601   1.1%  + 1.1
Heidi Simmonds  ChP      115   0.2%  + 0.2

Majority: 2,316 (3.9%)
Swing: Conservative to Liberal Democrat 16.3%

Recount in Bolton West

EM: That’s bad for Helen Grant, but her recent change from Labour was played heavily against her. The other thing to note is that Anne Widdicombe had a huge personal vote. Helen Grant has probably kept most of the Tory vote as opposed to the Widdy vote.

DD: The Widdy vote, I like that one.

North Warwickshire

Electorate: 70,126
Turnout: 75.42%

Conservative Gain from Labour

Dan Byles      Con  18,850  35.6%  + 3.6
Mike O’Brien*  Lab  18,284  34.5%  -12.8
Stephen Martin LDm   9,930  18.8%  + 5.6
Jason Holmes   BNP   3,664   6.9%  + 2.4
Steven Fowler  UKIP  2,147   4.1%  + 1.4
Majority: 566 (1.1%)
Swing: Labour to Conservative 8.2%

EM: Except for special circumstances, 8% is about the edge of the Conservative range tonight, although this election is so different, that even saying that can be a hostage to fortune.

Devizes – Conservative Hold

JV: I’m actually think of treating it as 650 by-elections, the model has gone to pot tonight.

Sussex, Hastings and Rye

Electorate: 77,956
Turnout: 75.93%

Conservative Gain from Labour

Amber Rudd       Con   20,484  34.6%  - 3.5
Michael Foster*  Lab   17,691  29.9%  -10.7
Nick Perry       LDm   14,368  24.3%  + 9.2
Nick Prince      BNP    3,242   5.5%  + 5.5
Anthony Smith    UKIP   2,414   4.1%  + 1.4
Sally Phillips   Grn      941   1.6%  - 0.8

Majority: 2,793 (4.7%)
Swing: Labour to Conservative 3.6%

Recount in Wakefield

EM: Now that is one of the better results for Labour tonight, quite a low swing against them

DD: Didn’t the Liberals used to be close in Hastings?

EM: Demographic change saw them off, the old seaside B&B’s in a lot of these resorts are now flats for benefit claimants

DD: Right, we will just go and join Adrian Goldberg at the NIA in Birmingham for the first result of the night from that metropolis.

Birmingham NIA OB

AG: Good morning, David and welcome to the NIA. Once again, a large count in Birmingham has become a bit of a shambles, although veterans tell me it isn’t quite as bad as 2004. We were supposed to be declaring Edgbaston at 1:30, but here we are at 4:47 with the first declaration in Yardley. The seat has was taken from Labour by self-proclaimed “Love Rat” John Hemming after a dirty campaign against the Labour candidate and he looks like he’s held it with an increased majority although not as much as many people thought he should have held it by.


“Cast were Forty Nine Thousand, Five Hundred and Twenty Six and the votes cast for each candidate were as follows.

Duffen, Graham (UKIP) One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty Six
Hemming, John (Liberal Democrat) Twenty Three Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty One
(applause and a faint cheer)
Jenkins, Meirion (Conservative) Six Thousand Nine Hundred and Nine
(A ripple of applause)
Kelly, Lynette (Labour) Eleven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy
(Another ripple of applause)
Lumby, Tanya (British National Party) Four Thousand Six Hundred and Eight

And I hereby declare the aforementioned John Alexander Melvin Hemming to be elected as the member for Birmingham Yardley.


AG: Well, that must be a disappointment for John Hemming, even with all his millions, he can only manage a 12,000 majority. I’m told Labour fought a strong campaign here and this result will surely gee them up a bit. We understand Hodge Hill will be next, where Liam Byrne looks sure to retain his seat with a splendid majority.

Back in the Studio

DD: Well, thank you Adrian.

EM: That was an interesting analysis but with all due respect to Adrian and his local knowledge, not the one I’d make. It’s true that Hemming’s vote share hasn’t gone up much, but Labour’s has plummeted. The main thing appears to be Tories up 4% or so and the BNP up 4% or so.

Sutton and Cheam – Liberal Democrat Hold

DD: Another London result, perhaps we will get up to 10 before we hand over to the breakfast crew.

JV: I think we will, but it could be a close run thing.

Chippenham – Liberal Democrat Hold

EM: That was a notional hold, it’s a very new seat and it was quite tight. Wilfrid Emmanuel-Jones was a very high profile candidate as a Black Farmer for the Tories and he’ll be disappointed.

DD: Well, he makes splendid sausages.

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale – Liberal Democrat Gain from Conservative

JV: Oh, that was the only Tory seat in Scotland. Back to 1997.

DD: The winning candidate is, of course, David Steel’s daughter.

EM: I have a couple more results

Newcastle upon Tyne, Central

Electorate: 60,559
Turnout: 73.36%

Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour

Gareth Kane    LDm   16,727  37.6%  +10.1
Chi Onwurah    Lab   15,424  34.7%  -15.8
Nick Holder    Con    5,823  13.2%  - 3.6
Ken Booth      BNP    4,618  10.4%  +10.4
Martin Davies  UKIP   1,365   3.1%  + 3.1
John Pearson   Grn      435   1.0%  - 2.9

Majority: 1,302 (2.9%)
Swing: Labour to Liberal Democrat 12.9%

EM: I understand that Ms Onwurah is considering a visit to the election court about a anonymous leaflet presumed to be from the BNP. Having said that, it is a fairly convincing majority.

Birmingham, Yardley

Electorate: 72,301
Turnout: 68.45%

Liberal Democrat Hold

John Hemming*  LDm   23,981  48.4%  + 5.3
Lynette Kelly  Lab   11,970  24.2%  -11.5
Meiron Jenkins Con    6,909  14.0%  + 3.4
Tanya Lumby    BNP    4,680   9.4%  + 4.2
Graham Duffen  UKIP   1,986   4.0%  + 3.1

Majority: 12,011 (24.2%)
Swing: Labour to Liberal Democrat 8.2%

Kingston upon Hull East – Labour Hold

EM: I don’t know what Adrian was going on about. I think he’s been comparing against the old Yardley seat not the new notional seat which includes a ward which had a higher Labour vote.

DD: Result looks a bit odd though.

EM: Well, yes, but that ward was in Sparkbrook and Small Heath which had a very strong second from Respect, although I doubt if there were many Respect voters in that ward. The apportionment will mean that there’s a minus voteshare for Respect not mentioned there.

DD: Ah, I see.

Wyre Forest – Independent Hold

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

Electorate : 66,607
Turnout : 78.93%

Liberal Democrat Gain from Conservative

Catriona Bhatti   LDm  17,200  32.7%  +12.4 
David Mundell*    Con  16,155  30.7%  - 4.5
Claudia Beamish   Lab  11,414  21.7%  -10.6
Aileen Orr        SNP   6,054  11.5%  + 2.4
Douglas Watters   UKIP  1,140   2.2%  + 1.2
Alis Balance      Grn     589   1.1%  + 1.1

Majority: 1,046 (2%)
Swing: Conservative to Liberal Democrat 8.4%

EM: There were rumours about this, I understand turnout was heavy in Tweeddale and very Liberal or rather Steel inclined.

(I admit it, this one was fiddled)

DD: I see Doctor Taylor has been returned again, he’s obviously very popular.

EM: He’s a very good local MP and takes a copy of the LibDem whip but doesn’t stick to it, his majority is down to 1,300 over the Tories though.

Derby South – Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour

DD: That’s Margaret Beckett gone. She’s not a government minister any more, but she is a big beast in Labour politics.

EM: Yes, we will get that result as soon as we can.

State of the Parties @ 4:50 am : Con 136; LDm 87; Lab 81; DUP 8; SNP 6, PC 4; SF 4; SDLP 3; Ind 2; All 1

[AndyC]

And the Lib Dems overtake Labour in seats declared! At this point, it looks pretty certain that Labour are third in both votes and seats.

(By the way, Mr Kimber in Rotherham read out the number of the electorate rather than the votes cast. Sack 'im).

[iainbhx]

Originally Posted by AndyC

And the Lib Dems overtake Labour in seats declared! At this point, it looks pretty certain that Labour are third in both votes and seats.

(By the way, Mr Kimber in Rotherham read out the number of the electorate rather than the votes cast. Sack 'im).

Could be, but remember there's a lot of urban and London seats still to declare.

The RO just reads what the DRO gives him or in Birmingham what the DARO gives him and Rotherham is not Pyongyang Central. Let's say he got flustered, he wasn't expecting to be on Telly.

Personally, I think we should go back to more blokes (and wenches) in shiny chains reading the results out. But I suppose the chavs would moan, because they couldn't get such great bling at Lizzie Dukes.

[iainbhx]

Originally Posted by Dunois

Don Foster now has a ultra safe seat ...

As it was the elections was hard for the Conservatives in the South West last year. But TTL this is even worse as it looks like apart from North East Somerset, the entire county will be yellow.

Anyway at least Hattie has lot her deposit, as they say every cloud has a silver lining .

Keep up the good work Ian!

I think that Don was always safe and will be until he decides to step down, I'm afraid we evil Yellows are like Kuzdu weed once we've been there a couple of terms and have a decent MP. Where we get losses after one term, the usual reason is "no bloody good".

I think you may have some company for Jacob, not all recounts will go the wrong way for all parties.

The Labour party have lost 18 deposits so far, the Conservatives 2 (Western Isles and Glasgow East).

"Losing Deposits" is, of course, a traditional Liberal (and Liberal Democrat) Glee Club song and has been for many years, sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. Perhaps Labour will take it up, if they are allowed such jollities as a Glee Club.

Once a floating voter came across a polling booth,
Went inside to cast his vote,
When he came out, he found he'd voted Liberal.
Who'll come a-losing deposits with me?

Other such classics include "Exmoor B'ah Tat" including the wonderful couplet
Then we shall 'av to shoot the dog ;Then we shall all be oop in court,
"Marching on Bermondsey" and "Battle Hymn of the New Labour Party".

[wargamer6]

Are you planning on having the BNP gaining a seat? Kind of shocking seeing Labour place 3rd to them.

[Bahamut-255]

Well this has been one of the better ATLs I've encountered here. With a 2010 General Election result that really seems to be going the Liberal Democrats way. It appears that they've come second in the popular vote and will likely be a close third in the share of seats.

Second in seats, afterall, is - even here - a very distant prospect for them.

Subscribed to this thread now.

[iainbhx]

I have one very, very dead laptop.

I also have a shiny new MacBook Pro which is now connected up.

What I don't have is the magic spreadsheet, which is on the dead laptop. Mercifully most of the things I really need are backed up onto my external disc.

Tomorrow I will go into reconstruction mode on the rest of the election.

*sigh* a few things may change, but I will keep the basic intent.

My apologies for this

Iain

[Cymraeg]

Originally Posted by iainbhx

I have one very, very dead laptop.

I also have a shiny new MacBook Pro which is now connected up.

What I don't have is the magic spreadsheet, which is on the dead laptop. Mercifully most of the things I really need are backed up onto my external disc.

Tomorrow I will go into reconstruction mode on the rest of the election.

*sigh* a few things may change, but I will keep the basic intent.

My apologies for this

Iain

Lol, get it back and running!

[AndyC]

Oh shit. I feel for you.
-pause whilst I sprint upstairs to back up my currently totally un-backed-up TL to the external HDD-

How dead is it? Can the HDD be taken out and connected up, or is that dead as well? If it doesn't boot up but starts and dies before booting, have you tried a live cd? I've managed to pull data off of several "dead" laptops by doing that (well, four, but that's four out of four - although one was only a partial retrieval). I'd be more than happy to try to talk you through it if there's any chance that it's not "really most sincerely dead" - just PM me.

Then again, if you're a Linux geek as well who's tried everything and it's really gone, never mind.