The basic background to this election is that Mr Blair has continued to hog the centre-right ground in British politics, as he has done ever since becoming Labour's leader in 1994.

ECONOMIST: Our British election endorsement

Socialitical has a background in social media marketing but has adapted its techniques for the election cycle and now offers Facebook political campaign strategy, and is expanding into Twitter for political campaigns.

FORBES: Will The US Election Be Won on Facebook?

Pope Francis's election was unique in many ways, not least because of his background -- he's the first Latin American pope to lead the church in its history.

CNN: Catholics: 5 ways for Francis to move forward

The political research unit provides background information and reliable statistics on parties, policies and polling, producing indispensable election guides which are studied and treasured by politics geeks and other staff across the corporation.

BBC: This is BBC News

Now that the presidential election is over, and the drama of the campaign season has receded into the background, Americans are facing what could become a real crisis: the looming fiscal cliff.

FORBES: It's Not Just The Feds, The States Face Their Own Fiscal Cliffs, Too

It sounds less virtuous if you see it as an attempt to make sure this argument runs into election year, and indeed the campaign is prosecuted with a rerun of this row in the background.

BBC: Low viciousness and high drama