FLASH: HUGE WIN FOR LABOUR IN UK: BROWN'S BIG VICTORY

BREAKING NEWS: Our cousins across the pond had a huge national election this week, too, and the big winner was Gordon Brown, who retains his position as Prime Minister. It was a surprise to many observers. The United Kingdom has been suffering much more than the US in the current crisis, and Brown "may be willing to follow the cuts in interest rates by sanctioning tax reductions in the UK, as part of an internationally coordinated effort to give world economies a boost," according the Guardian UK. This will probably set an example that the rest of Europe, and perhaps the Obama Administration in the US., will follow. Labour pulled off a stunning...victory in the early hours of this morning, defying predictions to retain the once safe Labour seat of Glenrothes in the first indication that Gordon Brown's heightened international standing and handling of the financial crisis has translated into improved electoral fortunes. (Guardian UK) Brown's Labour Party managed to energize voters and get them to the polls: "I saw people coming out to vote for Labour who haven't voted for 20 years. I need to think about that," said Tricia Marwick, the SNP MSP who won the equivalent Scottish parliament seat of Central Fife from Labour last year. (Guardian UK) The victory and the scope of the voter turnout were a surprise even to the insiders: The scale of the win, however, took everyone, including Labour strategists, by surprise. It marks an abrupt end to Alex Salmond’s honeymoon as Scotland’s First Minister and a thumping personal endorsement for Mr Brown. Holding the seat that Labour won with a 10,664 majority in 2005 meant that Mr Brown’s decision to break with tradition and campaign in the contest — along with his wife, Sarah, who made several visits — paid off. (TimesOnline.UK)