Britain votes

IN BRITAIN, there’s a time in late summer when media people talk about being in the “silly season”. That’s when there does not seem to be much real news to report and so pages and screens are filled with trivia.

This year, it came early, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unexpectedly called a general election. The Conservatives were expected to lose heavily, but might have done even worse if the voting had taken place in the autumn. Better salvage what can be saved and leave Labour to deal with whatever unpleasantness is on its way in the coming months.

Despite all the money spent on advertising and the airtime given over to campaign reporting, there were few signs of the British public’s emotions being stirred by the election.