The Manchester Debate

Clegg won.

Or- to put it more accurately- he made an impression. He was voluble, petulant, at times almost natural. Before last night we had only a vague idea of who or what he was. Now we know. He's Jimmy Dean left out in the sun and faded to a pleasing shade of yellow.

The other two did what was expected of them. Cameron warbled pinkly. Brown was stiff and worked his jaw like an old person with badly fitting teeth. He seems a little mad, but who wouldn't be after thirteen years at the top?

Brown was courting Clegg- as he will have to do for real if there's a hung parliament- but Clegg- lip curled and fist in pocket-  had no time for either of the two grown-ups. If last night meant anything, we'll have a Lib Dem government after May 6- but we won't, will we? Tain't fair!

Britain Is Grounded

They said that there might be a spectacular sunset last night- what with all the volcanic glass in the upper atmosphere- and I was ready to rush outside with my camera if I caught a hint of pink. In fact we had a very ordinary, blue and white one. 

Al was scheduled to fly to the USA today. When I rang her yesterday evening she'd just received notice that her flight has been switched to Tuesday afternoon. Even that, of course, is provisional.

And to think it's only a week or two since there was all that drama-queening over the British Airways strike.

Third Party Blues

My political memory goes back a long way now- and I don't remember a time when people weren't speculating about whether a third party might not come through and upset the two-party applecart. Surveys would be conducted that showed the electorate liked the third party's policies and personnel and that lots of us would vote for the third party if only.... if only everyone else would too.That's always been the problem- a problem of belief. If we followed our hearts the third party- Liberals, SDP, Lib Dems- would win by a landslide, but commonsense tells us such a thing is impossible, so we glumly make it so by opting for one of the other two parties instead.

I'm a lefty and the Lib Dems are lefties too- not as lefty as I am, but far to the left of the Tories and New Labour. So I should vote for them, right?  Yes I should. And Clegg's victory in last night's debate started me dreaming the impossible dream again. No, they're not going to form the government- that really is la-la-land- but they could wind up in a coalition with Labour. Clegg as Home Secretary perhaps? Vince Cable as chancellor?

I'm wavering .

A Marvel

It's a beautiful day- and for the first time in my lifetime of nearly sixty years there are no vapour trails in the skies over England.