UK Elections – UK Elections: Live In London – Duncan McIntyre Dies – Motorsport NZ Sentenced – Prison Escape Questions – McVeigh Execution – Sabotage – Flight Costs Rise

UK ELECTIONS: Labour PM Tony Blair has won a record back to back victory in UK General Election. Blair has become the most successful Labour PM ever. Money markets reacted with a run on Stirling as they are expecting a referendum on the Euro shortly. William Hague voted in his Richmond seat, remarking “gone” as he slipped his vote into the ballot box. That may also be what happens to him. The low turnout was the lowest since 1918. 18 million voters did not vote. Blair will now have another four years in Downing St.

UK ELECTIONS - LIVE IN LONDON: Jonathan Kinsella Reporting. There was a certain inevitability about this outcome. The voting figures bore out poll results. Low turnout may have been because voters felt they had nowhere else to go. This is the first time it has dipped under 60% since 1918. Around 70% of those who chose not to vote said they thought their votes didn’t matter. William Hague will face some difficult questions in coming weeks. There is an economist poll out on Monday with 40% of Britons saying that Hague should stand down. He is not expected to try to cling on to the leadership.

DUNCAN MCINTYRE DIES AGED 86: Former Deputy PM Duncan McIntyre has died.

MOTORSPORT NZ SENTENCED: Motorsport NZ has been fined $5000 and been ordered to pay $20,000 to the families of two spectators killed in an accident during a Queenstown street race. Motorsport NZ says it could not have pleaded guilty to manslaughter as a corporation.

PRISON ESCAPE: A prisoner who broke out of Rimutaka jail yesterday was picked up at the prison gates in a car. He earlier cut several holes in prison fences. Kevin Polwart was involved in an armed robbery in 1999 in which $600,000 was taken, of which more than $200,000 has never been recovered. Police were not notified about the escape till four hours after he escaped, when his absence was discovered.

MCVEIGH EXECUTION: Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh has abandoned his efforts to avoid execution. Sources say that McVeigh did not want to be seen as cowardly. He is scheduled to be executed on Monday evening NZT.

SABOTAGE: A saboteur is being sought for a series of incidents involving Boeing’s manufacturing plant.

FLIGHT COSTS RISE: Since the collapse of Qantas NZ thousands of NZers have been paying more for flights around the country. Travel agents say that NZers have to book a lot further in advance to get cheap air fares.

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Alastair Thompson

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Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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