Glasgow East: live blogging

12:05 Hmmm - dunno how long I can last with this. Been watching the beeb for about 10 mins and already I'm losing the will to live. So far - nobody knows anything but this doesn't stop the pontificating pundits. Or maybe they do but they've neglected to tell us. Anyway, they're still talking about the implications of a Labour loss. As I've argued previously, the fact that people can even suggest this as a possibility in Labour's third safest seat in Scotland is pretty grim news.

One thing vaguely interesting: apparently the kind of hostility against Brown found in Crewe and Nantwich hasn't been evident on the doorsteps here. Seems reasonable enough: the constituents of Glasgow East have been taken for granted long before Brown was Chancellor, never mind Prime Minister.

12:23 Argh! How horrifiying is Nicola Sturgeon? Don't know who she is? Consider yourself fortunate. Here she is defending the SNP's ludicrously partisan attack on Wendy Alexander.

12:30 Ah, someone talking sense. Seen him before, missed the name - Gerry Hassan? - talking about Scottish Labour's aversion to elections.

12:32 Leadership elections, that is. Result near - looking close...

12:40 There's my MP at the count. Waste of space that didn't bother to reply to my email about the Iraqi translators campaign. There's everything that's wrong with Scottish Labour right there...

12:50 John Mason's turned up looking pleased with himself. Here's some info. He's big on committees but, the evidence would suggest, he doesn't have sex. Scary.

01:08 Hurry up, for fuck sake!

01:30 Goddamit all - they're talking about a recount.

01:43 Oh dear - seems it is indeed a full recount. Latest rumour is that the SNP has a margin of 354, which is less than the votes for the SSP candidate who shares the same surname as the Labour candidate. Disappointing - I'm gonna have to call it a night. Assuming that Labour have lost, this is a complete disaster. Labour has no safe seats in Scotland anymore and that it is the SNP who have them on the run gives confirmation, if it were needed, that the Conservatives are the opposition in England only. I'm wondering if this by-election might be remembered as the day the Union died? For one wonders how it could survive a Conservative government in Westminster and an SNP administration in Holyrood. Too apocalyptic possibly but I'll tell you what this ain't - this is no ordinary 'mid-term blues' by-election.

02:25 Result: SNP win. Majority: 365. Swing: 26%. Conclusion: we're all fucked.

Correction: Swing was 22%. The conclusion remains unchanged.