I would not be surprised to have a UK general election this year. An early election, soon after Brown takes over and before his honeymoon ends, may be Labour's only hope of another majority government.
However looking at French politics, it looks very likely that Royal and Sarkozy will go to a second ballot. No other candidate seems likely to overhaul either of them, so we should not get a repeat of the badly splintered left vote letting Le Pen into the runoff.
Of course, what do I know about French politics?
As far as France, I'll admit French politics are a huge mystery to me. The comment about Bayrou and the UDF drawing from Le-Pen was based on the observation that as Bayrou rose Le-Pen fell. Oldfrog hs some good comments on this above. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
