Time for a catch up #1

No blog for a couple of weeks so I thought it was time for a catch up. What's been occurring?
Well, the LibDemCon coalition is bedding in. All noise and not too much action at the moment but, I don't think anybody is in any doubt that there will be pain to come. Micheal Gove has announced the formation of school academies - doesn't sound like a particularly good idea to me but I don't know the details of what is planned. More to come.

Have been on a couple of good walks recently. The first was with Richard's Ramblers, a circular route from Bickleigh along the Plym Valley Trail down to Plym Bridge and then back along the river. Great weather and a great walk. The second walk was along the Tamar from New Bridge in Gunnislake down to Morwellham Quay and back. Much to my surprise, the tea shop at the Quay was open! A delightful walk and one well worth doing again.

Off to South Wales to drop Ellen off, quick birthday party and then back home to expect Laura and Barry for a few days. Busy, busy, busy.

A walk along the Dart Estuary

A good day today with a walk along the Dart Estuary. Started at Dartmouth, boat trip to Greenaway (home of Agatha Christie - not very interesting), a walk back to Kingsweir and then a boat back to Dartmouth. With John, Rosy and Lol. A good time was had by all. And Rosy bought us all an ice cream at Dartmouth when we finished!

Tears before bedtime?

The deal has been done and today was the first day of the new Conservative/Liberal Democratic Coalition government. At the moment all is sweetness and light, as it should be. The new policies they have negotiated have been announced and clearly show the compromises that both sides have had to make to reach agreement. The devil is in the detail and it will be interesting to see how words are translated into action. There are a few things that immediately struck me. The first was the scrapping of the ID Card proposal: hooray. The second was stopping the children of immigrants under investigation being detained in Yarlswood Prison: hooray. The third was the absence of any commitment to remove the ban on fox hunting: hooray. There seems to be some substance in the areas of civil liberties and the environment. Of course, the whole agreement is riddled with ambiguous and essentially meaningless statements. As I said earlier, the devil is in the detail. My opinion? I'll reserve my judgement and give them all a chance to show what they can do. But I can't help remembering what my grandmother used to say: "there'll be tears before bedtime".

Turning now to the losers, today the first candidate in the leadership contest threw his hat into the ring. David Milliband has said that he would stand. It will be interesting to see how he intends to take the Labour party forward. I have a feeling that he is not going to take the party in the direction I would like. Will someone more to the left of the party emerge as a runner? John Cruddas, for example? It's obvious that the coalition occupies the middle ground and Labour (is it still New Labour?) will have to think very carefully about where it positions itself. How about to the left? Now there's a novel thought for a so-called socialist party!

PS: Excellent leaving speech given by Gordon Brown yesterday. If only he had shown this side of his character more often.

And so it continues!

What a day! It started out with the deal between Tory Dave and Libbo Clegg looking as if it was going to go ahead and then Gordon announces two things. Firstly, that he was taking the early bath and, secondly, that Libbo Clegg had asked that formal talks between them started. Where will it all end? As I right both Labour and the Tories are increasing what they are prepared to offer the Lib Dems for their hand. A veritable bidding war. Perhaps Libbo Clegg is playing one side against the other. Perhaps he's not. As I read it at the moment, anything could happen. I find it hard to believe that Tory Dave would allow the glittering prize to slip from his grasp easily. Equally, I find it hard to believe that Laboutr will not go down fighting. Watching the news channels is quite amusing. It is clear that nobody knows what is going on and nobody knows how it will end. All descends to speculation and clutching at whatever straws of information are blowing in the wind. I don't think that this horse trading can last much longer or else it will become farcical. I think that by the end of tomorrow it will all be much clearer.

Bah, humbug - that'll larn me!

I've yet to make any comments about the aftermath of the General Election and do not intend devoting much time to it now. The deliberations/horse trading are still going on between the Tories and the Lib Dems. The way it looks now is that they will come to some sort of accommodation and I suppose the only surprise will lie in what the details are. Poor old Gordon looks on the way out. There's no chance that he'll end up negotiating with Clegg as I'm sure that he (Clegg) is too far on the hook with Posh Dave. I don't think Gordon will last until the end of the month before he resigns or is 'encouraged' to leave.
At one level, a very interesting time for those who like politics. And I'd count myself in this group but my over-riding emotion is one of disappointment. Disappointed that the one time I vote Lib Dem (to keep the Tories out), I find that I've probably helped to get the Tories in! Woe is me and that will teach me to vote with my head rather than my heart.