Why the Liberal Democrats are (and deserve to be) dead ducks

A very interesting report into the operation of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition was published today. Unsurprisingly, it declared that the Lib Dems are too few, too poor and too weak to make much difference to the Tory juggernaut.


Most damning of all was this bit:

In a sign of the ideological unity inside departments, the unit said: "There have been very few – if any – cases where ministers in departments have divided on party lines.

"Indeed, across whole swathes of policy the coalition partners have discovered little difference in their policy responses when confronted with the hard choices of government.

We on the left have always known that under the Arran jumpers and sandals was a party of selfish rightwingers, but many deluded people have seen them as the 'nice' party. No longer. Why vote Lib Dem if they're Tories? If you're a Tory, vote Tory. If you're not, vote Labour, Green or the imaginary Green Socialist party I've just thought up. If you're actually a Lib Dem, be honest and vote Tory. 

Coalition Collapses!

Unfortunately, only in The Dark Place, where the Tory-Lib Dem coalition has been spreading misery and wasting resources for quite some time (32 months). Thankfully, some Liberal Demcocrats have acquired both conscience and spine, and have now sided with Labour, giving overall control to them after a no-confidence vote. Unfortunately, Labour now have to cut £70m of public services thanks to the combined spite and incompetence of the coalition at local and national level.


The Tory leader had the gall to attack Labour for “cheek and arrogance” for taking power without being voted in by the public' despite only ruling with the support of the Liberal Democrats, which suggests his grasp of democracy is rather limited - especially given that his national party, stuffed with gold and running against the most unpopular leader in recent history, couldn't win an outright majority. 


I'm not saying Labour are particularly good - but they're a damn sight better than what we have. Let's hope the insurgency virus spreads from the West Midlands to Westminster!

Coalitions: a lesson from history

We've been here before, as this poster from the early 1930s shows. I took it at the excellent People's History Museum in Manchester, on my phone. They should be selling copies.