Today's two most prominent political headlines (away from the primaries, that is) sit strangely beside one another:
Gordon Brown has admitted a "bad and disappointing" election for
Labour, as the party suffered its worst council results in at least 40 years.
"BBC research suggests Labour won 24% of votes cast in England and Wales, behind the Tories on 44% and Lib Dems on 25%.
In total Labour lost 331 councillors and [9 councils including] key councils like Reading."
The long-awaited results of Zimbabwe's presidential poll have been
announced, with the opposition's Morgan Tsvangirai winning 47.9%, forcing a second round.
"Election officials say Mr Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe's 43.2%, but neither candidate passed the 50% threshold for an outright win.
A spokesman for 84-year-old Mr Mugabe says he will stand in a run-off vote."
Everyone I've asked (Zimbabwean ex-pats included) believes that Mr Tsvangirai actually won the first round of the presidential poll outright, and that the published result is only the outcome of concerted behind-the-scenes activity to massage the numbers down to a theoretically workable margin...
Mr Mugabe must be wondering how Gordon Brown can have allowed such an outcome. When his fits of hysterical laughter subside sufficiently, he'll probably phone to suggest that Gordon demands a recount.
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