I've had much to comment on, but figured it was best to wait and see what happens before pitching in with the doom or yeah sayers. After all, what we are experiencing is something unique in British politics - a peace time coalition; and one between two diametrically opposites. Except it is now very clear that the LibDems 50 odd seats are nothing more than a poor bargaining chip for the trappings of power. No wonder there are thousands of LibDem supporters feeling disillusioned and are now watching the Labour leadership race with more interest than could have been expected - many of them will be joining Labour if the right man (or woman) is in charge.
While I've been even handed about the ConDem pact, I've had this feeling of dread for a number of weeks now, because I really do believe that we're not just heading for a double-dip recession.
A double-dip recession is an extended decline in economic activity following an aborted recovery from a previous recession. A relatively weak economic recovery sometimes causes investors to worry about the economy entering another recession. So they are reluctant to invest or lose faith in the markets, stocks plummet and to put it bluntly, we start to wish we had Norman Lamont in charge of the economy, because it'll be far worse than that.
For all the possible good intentions of the ConDem pact, I can't help but think by the time they feel we have paid off the National Debt there won't be much left in this country but poor people with worthless possessions - apart, of course, those that have always had and will continue to have even as the rest of us enter a new Dark Ages.
We're seeing it with this Big Society idea; the vaguest of vague election promises that seems to be edging towards getting everyone to volunteer. Getting 16 year old kids to 'volunteer' to work on community schemes. [just the words community and Conservative in the same area leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth].One thing is clear, the government have all these big ideas, yet while they spout their rhetoric about a better country, they're busy slashing every budget imaginable. Just how are they going to achieve all these goals when they reckon there's no money and we all have to pay, again, for the fact that we don't seem to be able to elect anyone that is capable of balancing the books?
I have been reliably informed that by April 2011 we'll start to see what the 'new world' is going to start to look like. The future isn't orange, it's more of a slate grey with slashes of crimson...
