Click here for the winner of HP Brio computer

You may remember a while ago we ran a competition to win a top-of-the-range Hewlett-Packard Brio computer (well it was when we ran the comp). We were inundated with entrants - yeah, we know, everyone says that, but really, we had bags full of little, annoying bits of paper.

Anyway <drum roll> the winner of the amazing, stupendous, incredible, mystifyingly off-white PC is ... Mark Newman from Ilkley, West Yorkshire. SCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHWHOOPWHOOPWHOOP!!!!!! Bravo Mark, the PC will arrive as soon as Lester gets around to packaging it up.

Since our policy is always one of honesty, we feel it's only fair we also explain the delay in the draw. In fact, we had a high-powered discussion over why there was a delay and various scenarios cropped up. Waiting for Doris to come out of hospital to finish going through the pages by hand (she went in due to exhaustion after we made her stay up all night sorting replies) was a popular one.

That we had so many that it took this long was a little lame, we decided.

And so we went for chads. Topical, see? No, not Chad the hot and barren country in Africa, nor Chad that used to write the "funnies" in Computer Weakly, nor Chad of the "wot no" brick wall fame. We're talking the American election punch hole chads.

Yeah, we didn't know that the punch holes were called chads either until Tuesday either. But they are. And while the chads have caused the US to be leaderless for a week (oh, and become the laughing stock of the world - did we mention that?), they have also caused interminable delays in The Reg's own "election". Bloody chads, eh?

Uninteresting fact: you can get various types of chad, oh yes. Our particular favourite is the Swinging-door chad. But let's not forget the Hanging-door chad, Tri-chad, Dimpled-chad and Pregnant-chad. Well done gents.

We hope this doesn't make it all clear. ®