Cleggmania

Better looking than Clegg?
One of the facts behind the present political turmoil is that for each hour that the UK gets along without a 'proper' parliament so spreads the notion that the political elite are not as essential as they would have us think. Prior to the election we were told the sky would fall in unless a strong government was elected, clearly this is not so. How the world financial markets will react in the early hours of Monday morning, then throughout the week, remains to be seen. As it now seems that Nulabour will be on the way out by then, perhaps there will be a breathing space.

How different all this is from the first days of Nulabour in 1997. Then Tony Blair told us his Chancellor, Gordon Brown, would "hit the ground running". This was essential to undo all those problems left behind by the previous government, unlike now; by contrast these days Brown is a lot slower to move, some say he plans to glue himself to the No10 office chair! Also, the longer the waiting-for-government stage goes on, the weaker and less relevant Brown and Nulabour become.

But what of our man Clegg? The latest news is that he has set a deadline for the conclusion of talks with the Tories. So is Clegg pushing the Tories or are his supporters pushing him? Setting a deadline this way may look tough, or perhaps he thinks it does, it may also be foolish.