'They think it is all over' is a phrase that has made its way from the football ground into common parlance. Just as well - I would have needed to find another phrase as a base for my blog.
The 100% LD vote for acceptance of the coalition terms was impressive. Either a fair number of them were able to swallow the firm policies and commitments of the hustings or have gone with the flow and work on the basis that a fish starts to rot at the head. It is, however, there and I am sure Dave remembers enough of Etonian prefectorial tactics to remind young Clegg that it did happen when the carping starts.
We might even think we are faced with another mini-election when the referendum into voting hits the streets. There will be the Pros and Cons of the newly established Government and the street-power brigades. Given the size of the Conservative vote in pure numerical terms rather than constituencies, the AV thing will not pass. Will the LD hard-core who only supported amalgamation in the hopes of change then accept the idea is a dead parrot? Will they then claim that AV was not PR and return to the fray? I heard a fine comment on the radio yesterday when someone commented that the whole AV/PR thing was as if Chelsea had been told that the next two teams in the Premiership had more points when added together than they did and therefore, those two were the winners.
Hague stepping out of his shadow and becoming de facto Foreign Secretary was something I had hoped for. Hard luck on the translators when he speaks in Europe! I would have wished to have seen him push for leader; he was too powerful in disposition to have remained as mere deputy. I have to admit that I do not favour deputy anythings - I gained many brownie points as a department head when I eliminated all of the deputy what-nots in a Budget review. They are merely stand-in for the Boss one upwards; if No. 1 is doing the job properly his people know what has to be done and do not need some surrogate leader.
Fox at Defence seems hopeful. His past seems to have been one of opposition to Brown's financial strangle-hold on expenditure even when it was quite clear that life and limb were being directly put at risk by this parsimony. He wrote a very good article in The Times regarding what he saw as a new form of terrorism - control of energy sources as a weapon. His contributions to the Tory centre-right blog show that he can listen as well as speak, Mind you, he has nothing to fear when it comes to contrasting his future performance with that of the total buffoon Aintworth. A dyslexic mute could do better than the cheap Prescott-copy appointed by Brown purely, I am convinced, because of his total inability to understand anything put to him by his staff and senior military figures.
Cable is a man who would have attracted my vote were I one of his constituents. He has depth and the ability to use humour to mask criticism. His comment on Brown transmuting from Stalin to Mr Bean was a classic.
I think my main concern right now is the gap between extreme LD members and the nutter-fringe of the Tory party. We have descended even further to yaa boo politics and there is too much to be done to spare time for sandal-jokes or lord of the manor jibes.
My other concern is for events here in Scotland. I sometimes surprise even myself at how much more I have become interested in this subject. Dan Alexander was Chief of Staff for Clegg and seems to have come out of his shell a bit as a member of the negotiating team. He clearly has a good brain. His Wiki entry reads well - I hope he can find acceptance with the moguls of Alba. I came here when the new governance was fairly young. I realised that they would have to learn to crawl before they could walk but I think it may be time to consult an expert on juvenile development?
My wishes and curses will have absolutely no impact - that is what politics is all about. Generating a false sense of involvement. But at least they have my best wishes and may even provide the occasional target for further such drivel from me.
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