On Wed, 10 Jun 2015 09:02:52 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Not at all. UKIP are a little worse in terms of vote share than I hoped
- all credit to a very astute and very dirty campaign by the Tory
election machine - but by and large it was serious gains across the
board.

UKIP's general election votes were actually a drop over the previous
year's European election.

In short the British people didn't feel UKIP were credible enough for
government - fair enough, that's a hill to climb, - they distrusted
Miliband mightily and savaged clegg and the LDs for breaking their
promises and were left with only one viable alternative.

That's a pretty good assessment.

I'd certainly agree with that para.

Clegg would have been better off not being in a coalition - he was no
match in character for Dave and more or less just became his bitch. Any
promises made were pretty much steam rollered.

Basic maths said that was always going to happen. The LDs were very much
the minority partner in the coalition.

I think they actually punched above their weight, and had a much greater
effect than they were given credit for. In 2010, I said the election was
the right result for the country, and I think the coalition did a good
job. I'd have quite liked to see the same again - but, realistically, the
LDs were _always_ going to be the scapegoats. Whoever won 2010 had an
impossible job to do to mop up after the Brown'n'Balls mess - and the
2015 election was always going to hand out some punishment for it. Labour
didn't show that they'd learned a single lesson, and the LDs got the
blame.

I hate the tories stance on university fees.

Trouble is, it's the only one that can possibly work in a country where
40%+ of school-leavers are going to University. Back in the days of fully-
paid fees and large enough grants to support a life of beer and
indolence, less than 10% went on to degree-level education. The wisdom or
necessity of that many going to Uni is another question entirely, of
course, and there's a strong argument that that has an effect on "working-
class" migration from within the EU. You've got a degree (even if it is
Media Studies)? Why should you lower yourself to a job on a building site
or mopping floors or...?

And don't forget that even the current fees are heavily subsidised by
overseas students, with many wanting to cut them back.

So cut back heavily on the number of Uni places, and who'll stop applying
first? The kids from poorer backgrounds, with less family history of
aspiration.

Don't be too happy - unless someone else steps up to the mark as "the
opposition" you will be in the very dangerous territory of a one party
system.

Toothless oppositions happen regularly. Labour were even less relevant
through much of the Thatcher years, and the Tories were in the same place
through a good chunk of the Blair years - and those eras were much
simpler, party-wise.