ned temko, welcome. what do you think we can tell based on the exit polls and the very, very sketchy actual count that's in? >> not a lot. i mean, if these exit polls are correct, it will be an extraordinary election. it will be the first time in 36 years that none of the major parties has had a working majority in the commons. if that indeed happens we're in for a lot of horse trading and a lot of kind of political brinks manship because both of the major parties-- labour and the conservatives-- will want first crack at forming a government. but the one very important caveat is, as you say, very few votes have actually been counted. i think two of the 650 constituencys have so far reported. so it's a long night. and they will change the exit poll in the next few hours. they've already mended it a tiny bit so that i think the latest conservative projection is now 305 seats instead of 307, but the fact is we're pointed towards what's called a hung parliament with no overall majority for either party. >> w

we get the latest from ned temko of the british newspaper the "observer." >> reading the written testimony for today's hearing, reading the written testimony, i hear one message. the message is "don't blame me." well, shifting this blame does not get us very far. >> ifill: plus we look at the obama administration's plan to toughen government oversight of offshore drilling. >> lehrer: saul gonzalez has more on the child sex abuse scandal shaking the catholic church in ireland. >> i was an altar boy of the church. i was sexually abused by one of the local priests, father ivan payne for about two-and-a-half years. >> ifill: we follow up on the nomination of elena kagan to the supreme court with a look at how it's playing with karen tumulty of the "washington post" and tom goldstein of scotus blog. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> this is the engine that connects abundant grain from the american heartland to haran's best selling whole wheat, while keeping 60 billion pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere every year.