Never underestimate just how deep blue much of the county is politically. Most areas have never returned anyone but Tory MPs within living memory.

Brighton is a partial exception but it has been far more blue than red over the years.

Ed Miliband (remember him?) was a disaster as Labour leader. Many people in Sussex I spoke to could not imagine him as Prime Minister.

They also disliked the way in which he traduced his brother David, who would have been a far better choice.

Until the end of the last century, there had been only one woman MP in Sussex, the Honourable Evelyn Emmet, who held East Grinstead for the Tories between 1955 and 1965.

Now there are more than there have ever been and they look here to stay.

New MPs in places such as Wealden, Eastbourne and Lewes will freshen up the male-dominated House of Commons.

They will see how effective existing women MPs are such as the redoubtable Amber Rudd of Hastings.

Not all women fared well. Nancy Platts lost in Brighton Kemptown having lost Pavilion in 2010.

She should then have beaten Caroline Lucas and this time failed to dislodge Tory MP Simon Kirby.

How Labour must be regretting choosing her rather than Simon Burgess, who fought the seat last time.

Caroline Lucas is a one-woman party for the Greens, hailing from what has been Britain’s sole Green city.

Natalie Bennett was a notably poor spokeswoman and failed to win a seat herself.

Meanwhile Lucas increased her majority in Brighton Pavilion and spoke sensibly on national issues.

But they badly need another seat and another star.

UKIP piled up four million votes to win one seat and the Greens had the same return for a million supporters.

A proportional representation system of voting would be fairer to small parties but each system has many disadvantages.

Meanwhile these two parties can only target seats under the first past the post system in the way the Liberal Democrats used to do when they were on the up.

UKIP came second in several places including Chichester and Bognor, providing a promising base for future forays. They are far better supported than the Greens and have ruined the far right extremist parties.

The elections were so disastrous for the Liberal Democrats they may not find a way back into power.

Both Norman Baker in Lewes and Stephen Lloyd in Eastbourne had strong personal followings but could not overcome the surge of anti-Lib Dem feeling as they suffered narrow defeats.

Without them, the party may find it hard to win these seats back or find any others.

Is there any point in some of the minor parties and independents standing? Dave Hill in Hove and Jenny Barnard Langston only polled a few hundred votes.

Both were once prominent and personable councillors who stood as parliamentary candidates for the main parties in winnable seats. Perhaps they can’t resist the excitement of elections.

Spare a thought for the electors in rock solid Tory seats such as Bexhill, Bognor and Horsham.

The results were a foregone conclusion and there was none of the excitement that accompanies hard fought marginal contests such as Crawley.

Holding local elections on the same day as a General Election devalues them.

Few council candidates were able to make an impression during campaigning and having the count two days later diminished what little interest there was in them.

Polling stations are open too long. The hours used to be 8am to 9pm but have since been extended by an hour on each side. Few people vote in the late evening when it is dark at any time of year.

I looked at one at 9.30pm and it was completely devoid of voters. Axing the final hour would save cash and enable results to be declared earlier.

Postal votes are too open to fraud to be acceptable in large numbers. They should only be allowed when people genuinely cannot appear in person at their polling stations.

Here’s proof that the Sage knows his political onions.

A month ago I forecast in public that Labour would win Hove, that the Tories would hold Kemptown and that Caroline Lucas would win Pavilion with an increased majority. What a pity I didn’t bet on it.