Tides of opinion

When one is very elderly one slumbers a great deal.  Indeed a simple snooze can last for weeks. Sometimes I stir and have a sense that centuries have passed. Can it be a little more than a year since I hailed the prospect of a new Midlothian?

I cannot condemn Mr Clegg for aligning himself, in defeat, with the forces of Toryism. Indeed much that is Liberal is being achieved.

Indeed I am all too aware that any government may enjoy the briefest of "bright new dawns" and may fast be riven by division and the power of individual ego, let alone the high expectations of the masses. It does not appear that Mr Clegg has handled himself well in all respects. He would do well to dissociate himself a little more from Mr Cameron.

He should be aware that when I coined the maxim to "trust the people" I meant it, well aware that one can transform in a few months from Grand Old Man to Murderer of G. These tides of popular opinion do not last as they are based on little substance.

The affair of the newspaper barons appears to have offered Mr Clegg an opportunity he must take to assert himself. Regardless of political adversity, he must appear to be a statesman and must continue to have the interests of the people at his heart, however vilified he may be. His hour is yet to come.

WEG