Trouble editing but I think the BBC website may be crashing. I got the test card 404 page several times.
DR (Denmark) posted a screenshot of the BBC website being down on their live blog this morning. A laughing clown in front of a burning blackboard must look slightly odd to those unfamiliar to the test card!
Here in Northern Ireland, we've had the 2015 General Election, the 2016 Assembly Elections, the 2016 EU Referendum, and the snap 2017 Assembly Election caused by the collapse of the NI Executive. Now there's another General Election, but also the distinct possibility of a second snap Assembly Election because the first one, 6 weeks ago, has not yet produced a Government.
Great for presentation geeks like me - not so good for the stability of the country. But I'm sure even the heads of the most seasoned political journos here are close to exploding.
Very surprising how this announcement was kept completely under wraps - no sniff of a leak or prior warning to the broadcasters. Must be tricky for news teams - especially in the Nations & Regions - to cope today, considering many will still be on holiday staffing levels.
I see Christian Fraser has already returned to his election role doing inserts from the balcony screen.
I take it Huw Edwards will be presenting the BBC's overnight coverage for the first time?
Well, Dimbleby's not exactly getting into London by train, seeing as he lives in Polegate which is only served by trains from Southern...!
In all seriousness, it would be odd for Dimbleby to return after he said goodbye in 2015, but that was on the basis that he wouldn't be in position to do it in 2020. Of course, the 2015 result led to a referendum in 2016 (and Dimbleby presided over that results programme), and now we've got a 2017 election that wasn't in the cards when the transition to Huw was set up for 2020.
For what it's worth, Dimbleby is on the record as saying he'd accept any offer to do any future results programme, whilst noting Huw is already announced to handle 2020. I'd imagine that, at the very least, Dimbleby presides over the presumptive BBC debate next month.
With hue still get an election in 2020? If then then it's possible huw might do this one.
I've just looked up the actual text of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.
Quote:
(3) The polling day for each subsequent parliamentary general election is to be the first Thursday in May in the fifth calendar year following that in which the polling day for the previous parliamentary general election fell.
(4) But, if the polling day for the previous parliamentary general election—
(a) was appointed under section 2(7), and
(b) in the calendar year in which it fell, fell before the first Thursday in May,
subsection (3) has effect as if for “fifth” there were substituted “fourth”.
(section 2 is the provision for snap elections, subsection 7 confirms that the date for one is "the day appointed by Her Majesty by proclamation on the recommendation of the Prime Minister" and that this supercedes the prior stated five-year window.)
In plain English, the parliamentary term restarts at five years again, unless the vote takes place in the first four months of the year - in which case the next election is
four
years later, because otherwise the term would be more than five years. This one won't, so the next scheduled election date is now Thursday 5 May 2022.
Northern Ireland's basically got to the point where anyone doing an outside broadcast is a full-time campaign reporter (five and maybe six votes to cover in just over two years!).
It's interesting to think about how much presentation will actually differ between 2015 and 2017. Remember, there was enough low-level "will there be a snap election?" rumbling over the winter for there to surely have been at least some preparation made in the presentation department, even if the actual timing of one has come as a major surprise.