I appreciate that response was not in relation to any of my comments but I rarely if ever resort to calling other posters contributions 'utter rubbish.' A bit aggressive although perhaps not for a right winger (there you go back to rugby.)

"If you're not a liberal when you're in your twenties you haven't got a heart; if you're not a conservative by the time you're 40 you haven't got a brain."

I guess I'm still waiting to grow up but there again, like you, I've now lived under long periods of both centre right and centre left administrations and I know which one I prefer and which one best fits my outlook.



But why choose to fill the gap between the two off the backs of hard working men (and especially women), the poor, the disabled, the old and the young. In a country of great wealth (only it's concentrated in the hands of the few) surely there's a fairer way? This coalition has set themselves a test of fairness. It's a test they will fail as long as their cuts harm the public services ordinary people (young and old) rely on and their tax policies are regressive.

As for the notion that the Tories are the party of economic competence I think that myth was blown apart on the 16th September 1992.

Well I'm ecstatic with the Tories – my eldest is just completing her UCAS form and choosing a Uni. I can’t tell you how happy I am that our beloved PM has decided to lift the cap on uni tuition fees and I might have to end up paying up to £7k a year.

The year after my youngest will be hitting Uni - £14K a year, can’t wait.

Success after the disappointment of last Friday's weather cancellation. 'Local bear' in attendance with the Blade pilots grounded by the conditions.



If it turns out to be the last time I see her fly (and at this time of year that's always a distinct possibility) then it was a nice way to finish. Ninety minutes in view overhead a war-time airfield. Emotional stuff.



Farewell for now ..... hope to see you next season.

You see there you go again. Another put down attempt. Your'e now saying I have a "complete lack of humour" because I didn't find your name calling funny, which it wasn't (nothing about Norman Tebbitt is funny) I actually do have a good sense of humour as many of my previous postings (and choice of name) will hint at. If your remarks had actually been funny I would have been the first to laugh.

By the way neither am I one-eyed or unable to change my opinion when presented with a convincing and better argument than my own. (so don't give up so easily) In fact I welcomed in the New Labour Government after the mediocrity of the Major era whose performance I also "kicked into touch". I am just very disappointed with their overall performance after so many years in power. So you can hardly say this is the usual "score" for a right winger!

Make no mistake the last election was a huge defeat for Labour. The voters while not giving an overall majority to the Tories (due largely to a good TV debate by Clegg) nevertheless clearly rejected Labour. The other two parties have formed a coalition which by definition means both partners will have to compromise on some long cherished policies, in the interests of the big picture, which is to reduce the huge national debt and bring back some financial confidence in UK plc. This is in line with the verdict of the voters which we should respect until the next election.

The voters made the Tories the major player in this coalition and so they have the mandate to decide on the majority of issues. It is a credit to both the Tories and LibDems that they are mature enough to make some difficult compromises. Of course they are going to make mistakes and of course there will be fall outs along the way and I will be ready to point out these errors too. I can understand why Labour activists are looking forward and hoping for these fall outs which is to be expected from two parties working together. What was their excuse when Blair and Brown were at war in the same party!

I also don't understand those deficit deny-ers who are so quick to have a go at this new government yet strangely keep so quiet about the many failings of the last Labour Government. It is all so one-eyed and out of balance with reality.

I am sorry, but to state that Brown led the world out of the financial disaster was IMO so inaccurrate that my comment of "utter rubbish" was made out of bewilderment and not said with any aggression. You should remember that all good right wingers swerve to both the left and the right when confronted by opposition left wingers but nearly always leave them grasping at thin air with mud on their faces!



I know that I have been let down by both the left and the right and so don't side with either but please don't think I'm a LibDem that worse than being called a right winger.



I say give them a fair try before you dismiss them. I do not condone cuts in public services that are essential to the less well off. But the Labour government threw vast amounts of borrowed money at public services that was not all essential or improved anything so there will be savings to be made which do not effect essential services

Diddums

How can there possibly be any rise in student fees?

Nick Clegg has pledged otherwise....

Yes I agree. I have vivid memories of some of the memorable tries he scored for Leeds helped by that under rated centre Derek Hallas.

Ha Ha another funny joke... I suppose? You'll never be another Les Dawson

I have two part time jobs and I don't even have opposable thumbs.

A good TV debate by Clegg reduced the Tory vote? Really?

Given the circumstances at the time of the election the public were clearly not in love with the Tories either and the Lib Dems also lost seats in what was a very disappointing result for all three major parties. A plague on all your houses. The look on Clegg's face at his declaration said it all ...... game over.

As the parties were aligned prior to the election I doubt many Liberal voters were contemplating providing a fig leaf to the inevitable and ideologically driven slash and burn Tory policies to come. The politically left of centre electorate (the actual majority at the general election) are not represented by this coalition.



The Lib Dems have done Cameron a massive favour in controlling his own right wing who would have been all over him like a rash had they chosen to run as a minority government.

I didn't vote for a coalition (I doubt many of the electorate did) and neither did Cameron who even had a party election broadcast describing how it would be a disaster for the country. Mind you he also described Clegg as his favourite political joke.



What are the conservative compromises so far? It appears like business as usual with ideologically driven cuts, targetting the weak and tax changes that are regressive.




Depends if they were at war over personalities or over policy. Every party has and needs a divergence of opinion within it.

But that can be difficult to reconcile within a coalition from the left and right. The Tories want a free market University system with probably minimal or no public funding/support outside of the core subjects. The Lib Dems don't only believe in tuition fees being capped at the present levels and not increased as they pledged but they went much further than that in their manifesto which IIRC stated that fees should be removed altogether within 6 years.



Like who? There's a large deficit which is hardly surprising after a lengthy world recession - brought about by the failure of regulation and while you'll happily lay the blame at the then government's door you're happy to ignore the then opposition's calls for an even lighter regulatory touch. Only Vince Cable warned of the property and debt bubble.

The question is how to deal with it (and the accumulated debt) and over what length of time. If that is the major issue of the day, both the Lib Dems and Labour went to the electorate on a platform of no cuts until the recovery was established and funnily enough that is what the majority of the electorate voted for. However it's not the policy of the coalition - democracy in action?