1. Labour wins when it governs from the centre. Tony Blair has made history, winning an unprecedented third Labour term, by worrying about middle England as well as the party's heartland supporters.
2. Iraq hurt: don't invade countries just because you don't like their regimes. It wasn't only the chattering classes who cared about the war. Despite what Mr Blair's advisers tell him, it isn't just a Guardian obsession.
3. Labour needs a smooth succession. Mr Blair must sit down with Gordon Brown and agree on when he should stand down. They should wait until at least after the referendum on the EU constitution.
4. People still don't like the Tories. The party's 33% share of the vote is not much of an improvement on its scores from 1997 and 2001. Despite Labour's much reduced majority, the government party can win a fourth term.
5. Our election system needs changing. It can't be fair that the Liberal Democrats won 22% of the vote but only 10% of the parliamentary seats. Surely Mr Blair can see the opportunity of creating a long-lasting progressive majority by introducing proportional representation.
