Relaunching the relaunched relaunch.
Reality may be dawning about the fundamental differences between the parties, but Britain needs a cohesive government now more than ever. So says John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, in one of those wonderful articles that makes clear the last thing we currently have is a cohesive government. Further proof comes from how we've been treated again today to the latest stop in the Dave 'n' Nick roadshow, this time coming from a railway depot in Smethwick. Last time round it was a tractor factory in Basildon, although they didn't go there to announce a new 5 year plan, sad to say.
Somewhat closer was the announcement today that there will be a mid-term review come the end of the summer, which hopefully will resemble a school report. "Although David and Nicholas both try hard, neither is prepared to work outside of their own little clique. Their differences are clearly insurmountable, yet they continue to insist that they must sit at the same table as it is in the national interest. I would send both to the nurse for monitoring, but she has been sacked pending her rehiring on lower wages." It certainly couldn't be any sillier than the document we we're likely to receive, or indeed Cameron's hilarious claim that he's more committed to the coalition now than he was in 2010. If he wasn't just bullshitting for effect, as he almost certainly was, then rather than being more committed to it now than before he's in fact dependent on it. The reality is that if the Lib Dems were to walk away he'd be left at the helm of a minority government, unable to get any controversial policy through, or go to the country as the polls still show between a 5 to 10 point lead for Labour.
Why Clegg doesn't then demand more than Cameron is now promising on Lords reform is a mystery. Equally unfathomable is why he goes through with ludicrous launches like today's, where the pair of them reannounced £5.2bn of previous projects and then set out £4.2bn of new schemes which won't start until 2014 and are mostly to be paid for out of squeezing rail commuters for every last penny. Yesterday's Sunday Times poll had Clegg's net rating at -59, compared to Cameron's -25 and Ed Miliband's -21, which makes him just about as popular as Ian Brady. The one thing that would improve that rating would be his pulling the plug on the coalition, and it can't come soon enough.
Somewhat closer was the announcement today that there will be a mid-term review come the end of the summer, which hopefully will resemble a school report. "Although David and Nicholas both try hard, neither is prepared to work outside of their own little clique. Their differences are clearly insurmountable, yet they continue to insist that they must sit at the same table as it is in the national interest. I would send both to the nurse for monitoring, but she has been sacked pending her rehiring on lower wages." It certainly couldn't be any sillier than the document we we're likely to receive, or indeed Cameron's hilarious claim that he's more committed to the coalition now than he was in 2010. If he wasn't just bullshitting for effect, as he almost certainly was, then rather than being more committed to it now than before he's in fact dependent on it. The reality is that if the Lib Dems were to walk away he'd be left at the helm of a minority government, unable to get any controversial policy through, or go to the country as the polls still show between a 5 to 10 point lead for Labour.
Why Clegg doesn't then demand more than Cameron is now promising on Lords reform is a mystery. Equally unfathomable is why he goes through with ludicrous launches like today's, where the pair of them reannounced £5.2bn of previous projects and then set out £4.2bn of new schemes which won't start until 2014 and are mostly to be paid for out of squeezing rail commuters for every last penny. Yesterday's Sunday Times poll had Clegg's net rating at -59, compared to Cameron's -25 and Ed Miliband's -21, which makes him just about as popular as Ian Brady. The one thing that would improve that rating would be his pulling the plug on the coalition, and it can't come soon enough.
Labels: Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, constitutional reform, David Cameron, House of Lords reform, Nick Clegg, politics
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