Friday Odds & Sods Has Lost its Deposit

Does it not seem, amici mei, that it was only an inconsequentially short time ago that the northern inhabitants of Her Majesty's Britannic realm narrowly voted against the dissolution of the same?  And yet now does it not appear that last night's election results show that, while the Gaels may for the moment languish under the heels of Downing Street, a separation is in fact accomplished, de facto if not de jure?  While the injunctions of logic may command not to multiply entities, politics has its reasons that reason does not know, and your humble correspondent would not be surprised that the passing of a few short years does not bring Scotland into full-fledged membership of the community of nations.  Given the sclerotic and generally disastrous course of politics this side of the Atlantic, it is with a certain sense of schadenfreude that we observe the tumult in the Mother Country.  Yet never fear, though the ravens may abandon the Tower of London, Friday Odds & Sods will remain a fixed point in a changing world

• Among the other momentous results of last night's election, the youngest candidate since the 1600s was elected to the Commons at the ripe old age of 20.  Yet this is nothing to the current record holder, the Earl of Albermarle, who answered his country's call at the age of 13.    
• Doubtless at the point the Cleggs, Farages, and Milibands of the world are in need of a stiff drink.  If there tipple of choice happens to include Bourbon, they would be wise to heed this article pointing out the false claims and empty marketing of many current brands.    
• While every election has its heroes and villains, I would struggle to name a modern politician who has reached such distinctly Shakespearean heights of criminality and madness as Richard Nixon.  To appropriately count our blessings that he has permanently decamped to warmer haunts, four articles on his rise, decline, and fall.
• Finally a song for winners and losers both, whether in elections or in life