Nick Clegg and the Lib-Dems in Never-Never Land!

The General Election looms ever nearer and my attention was taken today by Nick Clegg the leader of the UK Liberal Democrats.

He was playing a game which I have watched the Liberals play Election after Election.

It’s a sort of let’s pretend.

Let’s pretend that we really, really are a government in waiting.

Mr Clegg says today:

We were pledged to deliver free childcare for all. We will no longer be able to do that.

We were pledged to scrap tuition fees for all students we will not be able to deliver on this particular promise

Money is short. We need to treat people as adults, choices have to be made.

I know the Lib-Dems have to compete with other parties at the General Election but it is a very long time since their predecessors were realistically a party of Government.

Guess we have to go back to David Lloyd George to find a Liberal Prime Minister.

There is something of the  alternative Universe about statements like this, since the Liberals have been in a third party position since the 1920’s. You would think it would be possible to find a form of words which were a better fit for the likely outcome of the election.

Don’t wish to discourage Mr Clegg and company but while looking around for reports of his speech I could only find the Telegraph among the print media which had commented on his speech.

That is other than the official Lib-Dem outlets.

Maybe if Nick could couch his statements at a more realistic level he would generate a little more interest than today’s earnest entreaties have generated because let’s face it we need the Lib-Dems to brighten up UK Politics and give us all a laugh from time to time.

The thought of an unrelenting  two-party politics system would be just too much to bear!