The idea was to avoid confusion among political analysts, party activists and the number crunchers when comparing performances from 2005 with Thursday's vote.

BBC: Broadcasters' adjusted boundary figures explained

Comparing winners and also-rans from within the same countries, to avoid yet another source of bias, Dr Rablen and Dr Oswald found that the winners lived, on average, two years longer than those who had merely been nominated.

ECONOMIST: Is two years extra life