Bear a thought for the local hacks working through election night

No media covers local council elections like your regional evening newspaper.

On Friday morning, the first edition will start printing at 9.45am and will contain each and every one of the results from literally hundreds of wards across the Midlands that were counted overnight.

We'll more than likely splash on the result. There will be a run of pages from three to five on the leading stories and pictures from the various areas. Which locally famous councillor lost his seat; how the BNP were ostrichised ostracised (with thanks to David the spellchecker!) by the majority of voters; the scuffle over a recount; and so on.

And then deeper in the paper will be a four page run of the fully detailed counts from each and every ward, each one personally entered by a Birmingham Mail journalist on site.

So I do hope that readers will remember how hard the team will have been working to put all this together. The planning of rotas started weeks ago. The result is a slimmed down shift tomorrow and Friday. Because on Thursday night, the election team won't be in until 10.30pm. They won't go home until 7am. If they're lucky. And the subs who put the pages together will need to come into fairly ready stuff by 6am Friday morning.

Add to that the staff updating the internet in the early hours of the morning; the photographers rushing to get all the main count results and speeches; and our own Colin Whittock drawing the topical sketch live for Friday's publication.

I'll publish some of the emails that have been whizzing back and forth to ensure the process all works in the next day or so, to give Editor's Chair viewers an insight into Election night at the Birmingham Mail.