Sent before the election results from a community consultant based in Huddersfield:

The phone was ringing as I stepped in from work this evening, sending my imagination crashing into overdrive. I didn’t want to answer in case it was news of an Obama assassination attempt.

I’ve begun to suffer from the condition I’m told has developed among some Democrats across the Atlantic. Yesterday’s Times newspaper referred to it as “Victory Will Be Snatched Away From Us Compulsive Disorder.”

The phone call turned out to be friends asking if I was coming round tomorrow for Bonfire Night. Here in England we still celebrate the foiling of Guy Fawkes’ 1605 plot to blow up Parliament by burning an effigy of him every 5th November! It’s called tradition. England is built on it and you just don’t mess with that.

To us Black Britons, this election means almost as much as it does to our African-American cousins across the pond. A friend of mine, Lord Adebowale, probably the only member of the House of Lords of Nigerian descent, is the same.

“I’m completely mesmerised,” he confessed. “I never imagined how much this election would mean to me.”

The UK media coverage has been unashamedly biased toward Barack Obama. He’s media material. He’s fresh and different with an intriguing background and by far the superior orator.

But turn the volume down on the Black voice and on the media, and there’s an interesting silence. Here in Britain we prefer to contemplate change rather than experience it ourselves. Change here is much more incremental, say in 400-year stages.

George Bush has been deeply unpopular in the UK, so one would expect greater vocal support for the Democratic candidate. The problem is the prospect of a Black man in the White House. That may be a change too far for many White Britons to embrace with enthusiasm.

Obama, though, is clearly popular among younger Britons of all ethnic backgrounds. And watching White Americans come out in numbers to support Obama is truly heart-warming.

My mother, though, has been reticent. “I don’t think I want Obama to win” she declared at the weekend in a sudden attack of nerves. “If he wins, he’ll get blamed for the recession.”

Without a doubt, this US election is historic and has certainly caught the imagination of the British media. Yesterday’s London Evening Standard alone devoted pages 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7 to the race for the White House. Less urgent stories of economic catastrophe were tucked away elsewhere.

The UK has been engrossed in the 2008 US elections. I’ve been utterly gripped, immersed, addicted even. Tonight in hundreds of pubs, clubs, bars and outdoor arenas, Brits and American expats can party the night away while watching the votes unfold.

I’m watching from home and waiting for results from some of the key states like Ohio. Results are delayed and no one knows why.

I can feel another attack of “Victory Will Be Snatched Away From Us Compulsive Disorder.” I’m going to get another drink!