The final result (after two recounts requested by Labour) was: Lib Dem 1,098, Green 812, Labour 808, and Tory 198.

In an old Labour stronghold, second is a fine result. We just haven’t yet found a way to get around the sheer weight of a Lib Dem national swarm. They threw MPs around like confetti, hoardes of activists, and a forest of paper.

It was hollow electioneering pure and simple – and if it could be shown up as such, the vote would pop like a yellow balloon. (Very few people – outside the activists – want a Lib Dem poster in their window.)

BTW – I lost the bet on the turnout: it was something like 32% – still pretty high for a byelection.

I am now going to sleep. I may be some time.

Well I spent about five hours canvassing today, and three hours running a stall on Kentish Town High street, battered by a squally wind, and I think I could fairly say I’m shattered.

I’m feeling pretty happy with how the by-election campaign has gone – there are always things you would have done differently in retrospect, and there’s always the feeling that if you knock on one more door it might make all the difference, but overall I think the Camden Green Party did a good team job. And personally I finished the night by converting two Lib Dem voters, which made a nice final flourish.

Now it is up to the voters, whose verdict will be delivered about 24 hours. The fallout from tonight’s final bit of excitement – the arrival of a Tory leaflet that is flat-out wrong – it claims that Sian isn’t a school governor when she is, and that was clearly stated on several of our leaflets – could take longer. They have been contacted – and the media knows about it, so that one could run and run.

And it will be interesting to see how many voters turn out, after a pretty intensive campaign by four parties. (Even the Tories did a lot of phone canvassing and leafletting even though they haven’t got a hope.)

I’ve got a small bet riding on the turnout: I reckon it will be more than 40%, even though that is generally considered impossible in a by-election. (The general election in May in Kt was about 42%.)

One certain outcome is that a lot more “no junk mail” stickers have gone up on Kentish Town letterboxes, so you might call that a bonus.

The Telegraph today has a good round-up of suggestions for ethical Christmas presents. Mostly on the web – UK, but the goats for Africa etc are all there for purchase from anywhere.

I haven’t dug up the post, but I’m sure in the past I said that what we’ve got to do against “Chelsea tractors” is ensure that the bottom falls out of the second-hand market and then people will stop buying them.

And it is happening – prices and plummeting and sales are following:

Glass’s Guide, the leading guide to second-hand car prices, said that 4x4s were depreciating much faster this year than in previous years. A one-year-old BMW X5 is now worth only £38,800, compared with a purchase price of £63,397. A year ago a one-year-old X5, which cost £62,542 new, was worth £40,450.
Ian Archer, owner of Harringtons of Fulham, West London, said the high cost of fuel was also a factor.“It is always a difficult thing to tell an owner that their car is losing £1,000 a month.

And that Sian Berry, our Green Party candidate in tomorrow’s Kentish Town by-election, is quoted in The Times front page story is only icing on the cake…

POSTSCRIPT: Sian also appeared on Channel Four News and on Radio Two on the same subject today.

Walking the streets of Kentish Town tonight – yet more canvassing, or at least visiting Green voters we haven’t yet seen this time around – I was enjoying the pleasure – and it actually was quite pleasant, of wind-driven but very small rain droplets. Micro-abrasion for the complexion anyone?

But visiting Greens is a pleasant job – they’re a nice, characterful bunch, almost without exception.