Why we are so quiet,-They're all very dull.

Twiga apologises for the gap between this post and the last. One reason is that politics and reactions to them almost everywhere have been predominantly dull. Here in the UK is no exception and the blame must go right to the top. Until the end of the Gordon Brown era comedian Rory Bremner did a great line in takeoffs of our dear leaders and aspirant leaders. He did a superb Tony Blair and Gordon Brown although he struggled with Her Majesty's (loyal?) opposition under David Cameron. He just didn't find enough to work on there. The lights were clearly out. Then came the May 2010 General Election. Brown didn't have a majority,hing on for a weekend and after a weekend's hesitation understood the figures didn't add up in any direction ,- just as the economic ones hadn't for several years -and then did the walk of shame. Cameron rode into Downing Street, accompanied by something less than mass hysteria, having signed up ashen faced Nick Clegg as his LibDem coalition partner . Some weeks later, defying the assumption that David Miliband would square up to them across the dispatch box, New Labour was replaced by New old Labour when his union backed fratricidal younger brother Ed, previously a bag carrier to Brown and allegedly the tea maker for his boss and more senior colleague Ed Balls. None of these three "leaders" is charismatic. In fact all three are definately not so to the extent that they are verydifficult to parody. They themselves do a better job at that than anyone else could. Hence Bremner's self awarded P45.

Against the background of the electorate having basically said "We don't much care for any of you, however good or bad and whatever the past" ,and having therefore voted for a coalition which gave nobody a clear majority, there was a great opportunity for the new trio to figure out that they needed to do something other than shout at each other at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions so as to begin restoring people's in politics and politicians. This needed to go beyond rounding up and booting out fiddlers of expenses and other such miscreants. It needed to encompass new, calmer, more professional, consultative even , ways of doing business. People wanted ,-and still do,- to see cooperation rather than perpetual confrontation. It would have been interesting, a revolution of the sensible even..... and not dull.

Meanwhile dear old limp wristed BBC drones on like an old fashioned maiden aunt, feeding us on a diet of , yes, dullness. Grimy crime, celebrity this and that, everlasting moans about "the cuts", the state of the NHS but it not being the NHS' fault, the state of everything else but it not being anybody's fault other than the government's or anyone with a viewpoint of anything less than a light reddish tinge. As we say, all rather dull. Never mind, it's nearly December and time to crack open the credit cards and get back into a bit of happy debt building. Just like old times. That will cheer everybody up and make them forget what dreary souls vie for the nation's attention with yawn inducing ,almost preaching, monotony. It's not looking good for Rory Bremner this side of the General Election though.

Britain's new Press Charter . Bad for Britain. Bad for everyone, -especially politicians.

Britain has been a beacon of  press freedom for a long time. Constrained only by laws covering libel  and real national security, the papers have been able to publish almost anything about anything or anyone. Comment ranging from high praise (not normally a media thing) to severe criticism has been allowed and encouraged. So has pertinent or even impertinent enquiry.

No more.

Earlier in the year a grubby agreement was hammered out, - strangely at night and in the office of the Leader of the Opposition,- at a meeting of consenting adults representing the three main political parties and a pressure group led by the acting profession. All this used indignation rightly felt about phone hacking to amplify the outrage so as to justify legislation potentially covering anything said parties did not like or want to see in print. Politicians saw it was a wonderful opportunity to obstruct and prevent searching enquiries into duck houses, incorrect interpretation of entitlements to expenses ,inappropriate behaviour and other activities which might undermine their standing in the world of real people. Celebrities saw it as a means of ensuring that they only received the right sort of the publicity they crave to keep the money rolling in. Reports from Sunset Boulevard might become risky or expensive to run. As contrary views might have derailed the night's work non consenting adults,- notably the press,- were not invited or asked to make any submission . They were expected to accept whatever this politically adopted pressure group decided to throw at them,- shut up and stop being nosey. "Don't you know who we are?"

Satisfied with this bonding (for them) and bondage (for the press) evening, the attendees then submitted a draft Royal Charter for press regulation first to a supine Parliament where few, including no Liberals, seriously questioned the measure. They then sent hapless ashen faced Nick scuttling off to stick it under the nose of the monarch and demand/grovel that she sign . Going to the Palace probably gave him a real buzz but is unlikely to have done much for her afternoon. It is not recorded whether tea and Dutchy Originals were offered.  By convention Her Majesty had no option but to exercise the royal ballpoint rather than tell him staight that she didnt think much of politicians hiding behind her rather than doing their own dirty work by passing legislation of their own.

So far so bad , even if the newspapers continue to ignore the Charter and set up their own regulator not paid for from the (empty) public purse. What we have seen is potentially the most repressive move against the freedom of the press in any major western country.

The international by product is that Britain can no longer take less liberal countries and regimes to task when they muzzle the press or make it impossible for investigative journalists to function.

Silence from Britain is the best Commonwealth Kenya's citizens can  now expect when they protest against  the passing of the Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill by their National Assembly. The country's press is lively and vibrant . It has boldly shined torches on corruption, malpractice and greed ,particularly amongst MPs. The Standard newspaper has recently labelled them as MPigs. It has since carried headlines including  "Democracy under Attack",- and so it is just as it is here. Publishers of  anything MPs don't like could be rewarded with heavy corporate and personal fines. No prizes for guessing where those ideas came from.

That's Kenya which despite everything is one of the brighter stars on the African scene. What can Britain, the orginal upholder of good governance and virtue now say to other recalcitrants? Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, even China are now beyond our rebuke or even friendly word in the ear from the Ambassador.  Until now the answer has been "Quite a lot". Now it's "Nothing."

Perhaps even more sobering and damaging both to ourselves and the world, the same goes for anything we might have said about other countries' greedy, self interested and self serving politicians. Previously we could have said quite a lot. Now, nothing without being accused of gross hypocrisy. Haven't we done well? 

US drone attack ill-considered and ill-timed? Unlikely.

On the face of it, the US removal of the Pakistan Taliban's leader via a drone attack looks like a masterpiece of bad timing, coming as it did just as seven week old contacts about possible peace talks between the Pakistan Government and the Taliban were said to be making some tentative progress. Leading government officials and an assortment of Taliban leaders were due to meet in the north tomorrow.

On timing, the Americans, although at times diplomatically clumsy, don't make mistakes that big. This looks in all respects like a carefully considered tactical act based on strategic policy. The betting has to be that it was specifically aimed to derail the talks as the US feared possible aspects of or concessions granted in any eventual agreements. In other words the discussions looked dangerous and not all the players could be trusted not to go for a "Peace in our time" settlement.

The Taliban had already been already talking as if from a position of strength about the outcome depending on the Pakistan Government's willingness to agree to their "conditions". This was the thin edge of the wedge. Any deal would inevitably have involved officially recognising, Taliban influence, in however small a way initially, in a country which , away from its mountainous rural areas substantially rejects its extremist philosophy and fears its murderous activity. It is very likely that the US is simply saying "Enough is enough" and telling the Pakistan Government not to go there. Any deal would have to involve the Taliban dropping both its violence and moderating its stance on human rights, especially those of women or people who did not agree with it.

Apart from these obvious immediate issues of mass brutality and repression of opposition and religious moderates, the even greater and long term fear in the west has to be that any emergence of the Taliban on the Pakistan political stage would take it closer to its eventual aim of controlling the country. The nightmare end scenario then becomes the Taliban eventually taking over Pakistan. The prospect of the Taliban in control of a nuclear power is too frightening to contemplate.

No mistake then, this had in the last few weeks become a "Must do".   

This week...............

- With just 19 months to go our two great political parties are still shouting "Buy us and get x, y or z free or at least cheaper than you would with the other lot". This taps into the national psyche, carefully genetically modified ever since the welfare state was created in 1948, that everyone is really entitled to everything free and anyone trying to make a living, pay for research, be rewarded for effort or anything like that by making a profit must be a bloodsucker on the faces of the poor or hard working families (nobody has expressed a concern about hard working singles) or the disadvantaged or pensioners or whichever group tends to be the hard done by choice of the day. Generally it's pretty much all of us. Commuters, even those who choose to live far away from workplaces, are entitled to subsidised trains says David Cameron ,everybody is entitled to cheaper power although ours are some of the lowest rates in Europe says Ed Miliband. "Government will pay" (for someone has to,-unmentioned) say both and the LibDems. This is just the start. We can expect more goodies before the election. As result, sooner of later many of us will have to pay more taxes. We've probably pretty much run out of evil bankers and wealth creators to squeeze more out of and any left will likely soon follow the man from Virgin in moving their tax domicile to somewhere more welcoming. Why wouldn't they?

- While on economics, Ed with Dad's bit between his teeth, has been saying that yes indeed , a Labour government might do a lot more to keep the cost of living down by controlling prices .This will ensure that nobody can make more than a few quid profit regardless of how much they invest or risk. These are the joys of socialism and its fantasy world which has left the country broke after every Labour government. Prices and/or incomes policies have been tried ever since the French Revolution. Then execution had to be used to deal with the unconvinced. Effective but a bit short term. There was another Labour attempt after World War 2 when UK Plc was short of money and needed some to repay all it had borrowed from the USA to help keep the conflict away from American shores. Then there was Jim Callaghan's dab at it in 1972 accompanied by the Social Contract, a deal with the unions not to be as bloody minded as they might be. Nature took its course . All of these market and gravity defying efforts inevitably fell to earth with a thud. Margaret Thatcher killed off that last one, no doubt with a few choice words. Maybe she asked "Will they ever learn?". Unfortunately the answer is "Probably not".

-Other political flavours of the week include the LibDems swerving all over the road.Nothing new there. Nick was for a moment in "I agree with Dave " mode and said the Guardian shouldn't have published the leaked intelligence documents showing how and what GCHQ and others do, together with others containing information which could seriously threaten the lives of security operatives and their families. His colleague, the ever unpredictable Vince Cable, was , as so often, in "I don't agree with Nick"  mode. He said that the Guardian was right to publish.
In another neck of the woods two 14 year old schoolboys were told to shave off the new beards they had grown in line with their personal interpretation of religious requirements or to go home Nick was back to normal "I don't agree with Dave"setting." Anyone can do what they want at school" . Oh the joys of being in coalition even with colleagues nominally in the your own party.
Footnote: Why does Cable go off on these frolics of his own? Probably because he has always bitterly regretted his decision not to stand against Clegg in the party leadership election. He thought that his age ruled him out. He realised too late that his Commons performances when he was the standin during the interegnum went down very well (he was even intelligently funny about Gordon Brown) and he could have landed the job.  The electorate thought he was good. Age didn't matter .He still wants it.

-Press censorship is on the way,- or would be if all three party leaders and a pressure group, Hacked Off, gets its way. The latter has been hijacked by celeb actors and others who have been inconvenienced by such things as being reported in the back of a car at an awkward moment. Zips are such unreliable things. These are well off people who relish and thrive upon press attention when the news is good but bristle at the common peoples' right to know when it is ,shall we say, less good or convenient.  One can understand anger at some of the media's more intrusive and sometimes downright insulting and untuthful lies and speculation but these are already well covered by laws on libel and slander. Politicians in particular are though keen to be get their hands on the ability to control the press for potentially much more insidious purposes as well as to cover any personal mishaps such as the odd "moment of madness" or  inappropriate use of Westminster premesis or furniture.
Whether or not we like the press and how some elements of it do their job and the slants they put on their outpourings, the dangers of state or political sensorship are enormous. Already Mr Mugabe and others must be delighted to see that the British are "getting " true democracy at last. We have already seen some pretty dodgy elections of various kinds thanks to misused postal votes filled in by "community leaders", husbands and others, block votes and other devices. Further incursions on free speech or choice should not be welcome by anyone. The UK has been seen as a model of press and individual freedom of speech across the world.  It is something its politicians,- and even celebs,- should value.

- Africa's friends and those who contribute to or cheer on its progress wherever they see it will have said "Oh no!" once more this week. This time the miscreant was the news that the Organisation of African Unity at it conference in Addis Ababa has supported a demand that the continent's Presidents should be immune for prosecution while in office. No act of corruption, violence or even genocide would be bad enough to get them into the ICC's dock before the damage had been done. It would also be a good incentive to stay in power by whatever means might be required. President Kenyatta and others resorted to some good old fashioned anti-colonialist rhetoric , specifically accusing the ICC of being anti-African. It is a dismal picture of peddling backwards. Many Africans, tiring of the misguided notion that "the big man" can do whatever he likes, feel betrayed yet again by the leaders, some of whom they elected. Western international investors also say "Oh no!" and look elsewhere. Chinese investors,- mainly the Chinese government in one guise or another,- aren't too bothered and beckon towards their doorways. That's bad news for Africa's citizens whose new roads, railways, shopping malls will come with some unwelcome hooks, especially if western competitors back off. Ask the continent's elephants for a start.

-Talking of elephants, Tanzania's Minister responsible for wildlife is proposing a shoot to kill policy to deal with ivory poachers. At present their greatly increased rate of activity will wipe out the country's elephant herds by 2025. With that, Tanzania's tourism industry, earner of large amounts of foreign currency and provider of thousands of jobs, would also be largely wiped out, leaving the country even more dependent and tied to the Chinese RMb. Kenya employed the same policy very successfully in the 1990s. In response to the Minister there have been howls of protest from human rights groups. The elephants and those who depend on them to feed their families and secure a future will hope that he will put his ear plugs in.   

The Conference Parties are over. Where are we now?

Yes, they are all over bar the Scottish Nationalists who trail behind, as they are likely to do in next years' bid for independence, or Uhuru as they might like to call it to give it a bit of a Commonwealth flavour (if they can stomach that). For any fans of party conferences who feel they have missed out this year, the SNP will meet in Perth for its annual grudgefest on 17-20 October. They will no doubt be delighted to see you,- provided that you are not one of  the evil English.

All the sessions went much as we predicted and bar the odd soundbite (and there were some odd ones) were highly forgetable. We may as well press the mental "delete" button and make space for other thoughts or memories. Almost anything else will do.

Passing over Nick and his gathering, Ed did his noteless stuff in Brighton, just down the track from Westminster, about as near as you can get without staying inside the M25. There was a spontaneous " Man-of-the-people-I'm not just a geek" session or two of hugging or snogging the wife and then a long learned by heart speech about us all being able to do better "than this". For those nodding off in the back rows those were probably the only words they heard before nodding (in agreement) off again until they heard the wake up words next time round (they had about 15 chances in case they missed any). With  clear body swerve to the left (McClusky's dog whistle was obviously working well) Ed came out about embracing socialism ("That's where we're going") and chose the wicked power companies as this year's bogeyman . They are to be felled by a blow of the price control axe once he is installed in Number 10 where all energy costs are met by the taxpayer. How he expects the six big energy suppliers to maintain their enthusiasm for the tens of billions of investment required to meet Britain's power needs and highly expensive greenification over the next 10 to 20 years is not clear. Maybe he will in due course explain to the nation in a candle lit broadcast with the hum of a portable generator prominent in the background. Actually he'd better do it on the radio as TV will probably have blacked out. Anyway, the message was "Follow me over here to the left" . There was barely a mention of defecit or the need to do anything about it. He was pretty much back to his master's voice, - that's Gordon Brown's- vowing to "invest" , by which he means of course to borrow and spend but for no particular purpose or gain.

All this doesn't stop Ed being the next Prime Minister. Cross yourselves, put your hands together, breathe in slowly and heavily, pour a stiff drink or do whatever you do in times of extreme stress now.  Thanks to the electoral maths, the Tories having scored an own goal in blocking the modicum of House of Lords reform demanded by the LibDems and the latter having churlishly responded by blocking parliamentray boundry changes worth 20 seats to the blues and the urban north being an almost Tory-free zone, Ed in number 10 is a definate possibility.  This version of Ed (Miliband unless Mr Balls elbows his way past him at the last moment) may well have to put up with an irritating alliance /coalition with Nick and his gang but that is something either of the main parties may have to accept. Nick himself doesn't much mind with which it is, just so long as he continues to draw his Number 2 salary and benefits. Labour would probably be harder on him though than the Tories have been although many LibDem MPs would feel themselves much more at home under the red bedspread than sort of under the current blue one.

Dave and his team chose to venture further from the M 25 comfort zone,- even beyond the Cotswolds which in a painful phone-in he revealed to be the home of bread making machines and artisan flour. That went down just great in the industrial streets of Bolton and the like.  As for in Scotland, let's just move on. So it was that the Tory festival pitched its camp in Manchester as a demonstration that it knows where it is and that it could manage a few days there without the place being burned down.  There were a few ill advised policy swerves or at least nods towards improving living standards via the socialist mechanism of market distorting government price controls but otherwise the message was essentially " Restoration of  the economy is long haul work in progress,- give us another 5 years in 2015". It echoed a slogan of 20 or more years ago "Life's better under the Conservatives,- Don't let Labour ruin it". It wasn't exactly a new theme.

Perhaps that's the real feeling coming out of all the party conferences. There was a "Back to the future" thread. Nothing really new, no exciting new thinking or visions, managerial rather than inspirational leadership styles, just choose which of the above bores or frightens you least. That makes for a pretty dull choice. The north will mainly say Ed, the south Dave and the largest number of the scattered remainder Nick. UKIP will do well in what are seen as the single issue May 2014 European Parliament elections but are likely to fade by 2015 although they could cost the Tories some crucial marginals. Scotland, ah Scotland. It was once the home of a good number of Conservative seats but that seems long ago. Even one seat is almost a miracle now. Tory mathematicians, or anyone who just understands sums, might think "If they could vote "Yes" to Uhuru and Westminster could be shot of their MPs by 2020 then the whole game changes in our favour". They should not allow this idea to delude them though. Both countries are enriched and strengthened by the union, even if the English do have to pay for/subsidise it. England the Brave.

The Great American Shutdown- A Trans-Atlantic Twiga's view.

Are you mystified as to what is going on in the USA ? The people who lost the Presidential Election appear to be trying to hold to ransome the people who did. In so doing they negate the idea of democracy (for which they originally fought hard) by bringing the state aparatus as close to a standstill as they can. Next up will be the powers to increase national borrowing needed to fund ongoing expenditure. Apart from undermining the country's status as a long term trusted borrower, these measures will risk putting many citizens out of work, stop their pay and social security cheques and thereby threaten their livelihoods and homes. That doesn't seem to make any kind of sense for any political party.

While on this side of the Atlantic we shake our heads ,Twiga's North American fellow long necked quadripede, Andrew Lloyd-Williams, throws some light on the dismal scene of short term politics at its worst.

He comments...

Under the shutdown all government departments are required to furlough all employees unless the department has alternative sources of funding or the employees are "exempt",- ie performing emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property or performing other types of exceptional work (See http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/furlough-guidance/guidance-for-shutdown-furloughs.pdf ).

Each department decides which employees are exempt so decisions will vary.Often the choice is a political one-furloughing more employees creates a bigger backlash against whoever is blamed for the shutdown. There are some useful details at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/union-faa-furloughs-airline-safety-inspectors-20427311 and at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-30/boeing-dreamliner-risks-certification-delay-on-shutdown.html.

It is only a matter of time before the shutdown causes a death. Then Congress will face being called murderers. It is clear already that if a vote were held the hiatus would be over. However the Tea Party extremists seem to have so much sway over the House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, that he won't allow a vote on a clean bill to bring the affair to an end. This has to be about as dumb as it gets. The Republican House members polled fewer votes than the Democrats in the 2012 elections and they only control the House because voting districts have been gerrymandered to create safe seats for Republicans,- and some Democrats as well. This not only results in Republican control of the House with fewer votes, but also means that those members in safe seats can be as stupid as they like without the risk of being voted out. (Not very different from some scenarios in the UK where its significance may be substantial after the 2015 election). This is how the Tea Party came to exist.

 The obstructors though are on a losing wicket. The number of moderate Republicans pushing for an end to the shutdown is growing and it is likely that they will be able to force a vote within a few days. Boehner can't hold out if he sees the Republican party disintegrating. Next up if the situation is unresolved, is the even bigger potential crisis,-the debt limit. If an increase isn't approved by around 17th October the US Government won't be able to pay its bills. The first move will probably be to start holding up things like Social Security cheques and the point would soon be reached where the government would default on bond holders. Then all hell would break loose .Interest rates would go through the roof , the defecit would balloon due to higher interest payments and everything the Republicans have been fighting for,- starting with lower defecits,-would be a pipe dream, a sure way of shooting themsleves in both feet ( Twiga comment,-As a separate and side issue, really shouldn't  they bring in some form of gun control even if just to avoid this possibility?)

There you have it. Watch this potentially self destructive space.

Meanwhile in another neck of the woods there must be joy in BP that a US court (the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans)  has ruled in favour of them not having to pay out on bogus or fraudulent claims for damage relating to the 2010  Gulf of Mexico oil spill. For some reason most people will have thought inexplicable,  the Administrator of the fund sent up to compensate those affected by the spill had previously though otherwise.

The USA at its best is a great country and does great things. Amongst other things it has given more people more opportunities than has any other nation on earth. At times though we have to shake the heads at the top of our long necks in mystification at its capability to do some rather extraordinary things which lead us again to hear the twin reports of a double barreled shotgun facing footwards.

The UK political party's conference season is under way.

Yes, the Party hats are out again, and the bars of some of Britain's resort town hotels can hear the cash registers ringing way into the early hours and the occasional bed spring or two is in for a bit of illicit pounding "for the sake of the Party".

What's happening?

Our MPs have been back from their summer hols for a couple of weeks and enjoying getting back to the cheapo catering and liquid refreshment subsidised by the grateful public. This little session is always a bit of a false dawn though as it's only slipped in to occupy their time between putting the kids back in school and bunking off again for a further month for the party conference season.

This jolly annual romp starts off with the Trade Unions having their ritual rant on behalf of much hyped downtrodden masses against anything other than full time firing-proof full time employment . That is the sort of employment most likely to appeal to union fans. Not for them the evils of flexible working, zero hours contracts and all those sorts of things which have opened the way to new jobs and opportunities which employers can afford to create. Not for them either is any form of economy-strengthening restraint on wages or public sector spending. Why after all should they be interested in a more prosperous society. Happier, less disgruntled people are bad for unions and their quest for power in politics and over peoples' lives. Not good at all. Appropriately enough the scowling brothers and sisters, or comrades as many still call themselves out of reverence for glorious old heroes like Joe (Stalin) and similar pillars of liberal free thinking democracy, gathered in Bournemouth for their snarlfest ,the UK's best known resort for the elderly. It's famous for its sedate tea dances and must be more comfortable than the good old real working class northern resort of Blackpool. No deprivation or discomforts on the south coast for the well heeled leadership and maybe less well heeled delegates. Plenty in Blackpool.Upsetting place. Better not to go there.  Anyway, that's over now. Nobody can remember much about what transpired there but at least it was briefy good for end of season hotel occupancy.


The Green Party, led by Sydney-born Natalie Bennett whom likes to talk about "our" NHS as a glittering success not to be interfered with by the rapacious private sector even if they might do some good to the high cost and inconsistently performing monopololistic monolith. They gathered in Brighton which will have minimised evil emisions-generating travel although at least the 50 mile line to the city from London  is electric. Whatever went on at the gathering we hope that someone was listening. Whatever was said got drowned out in the media by things Syrian.


Next up are the LibDems,currently in Glasgow to show pre independence referendum solidarity with Scotland . Dear old Vince Cable hasn't quite got the message about displays of unity either with the tories who he clearly dislikes or his own leader but he has at least been prevailed upon not to miss significant sessions or votes. Otherwise , including the beareded and sandled ones, they are displaying their wares , wringing their hands (That is what they do )and preparing for a second term of junior membership of a coalition government in 2015. Like Vince, few  of them care much for their existing partners but to his credit their leader, Nick Clegg is doing his best to herd the cats away from the red-is-best cliff edge.  For the Tories being in bed with this outfit is like having your own inbuilt opposition out to hobble you before the people on the benches opposite get their chance. Given even the slimmest of majorities neither of the major parties would touch the LibDems, leaving them instead to resume their preferred role of a mildly irritating protest group best largely ignored. Their agenda appears to be to support things the majors mainly don't, -eg uncontrolled immigration, not kicking out known unpleasant people and that sort of thing. This may not get them to where they want to be,- holders of the balance of power and an essential coalition partner to one or other of the majors.

Once the LibDems have done their talking and socialising and enjoyed some liberal evenings on the way,  New-Old Labour takes its place on stage. They too are heading for the delights of Brighton, just down the line from Westminster. Here Red Ed ,fresh from recent failed duplicity over the Commons' Syrian vote needs to make his mark after a lacklustre, or lack anything much , summer.  His move to curb some of the excesses of union power over the party is far more courageous than he is given credit for. The status quo under which the unions by virtue of a fiction which gives them 50% of the voting power of "Conference" and dominance over the MPs and the constituencies in the leadership elections has to be changed if the party is to have any credibility as being in any way truly democratic. Blair, for all his bluster, did not take the issue on and nor did Brown who almost certainly saw little objectionable in how things were. Ed Miliband should have driven the change immediately after the 2012 election. Leaving it until now has weakened his hand , not least as there is little time to organise alternative funding for the party ahead of the May 2015 election. Already increasingly seen as weak and easily portrayable as being afraid to take the paymaster unions on, if he backs off now he will be condemned as gutless. If he pushes on he may well bancrupt the party unless there is quick agreement on the unpopular idea of state funding for all the political parties. He is truly between a rock (and not a stick of the Brighton stuff though he should be wary of any union official with any of that in their hand) and a hard place.

The grand finale, if not the peak, of the season then follows when the Conservative Party meets in Manchester, thereby demonstrating either its deep affinity with the industrial north west or that it knows where there's brass or that someone has told its leaders that at least they need to be seen far to the north of the M25. David Cameron is, despite the toff image and Labour's oft shouted "out of touch" epithet continuing to limit his popular appeal still ahead of the other two leaders in the "Who makes the best Prime Minister " polls. "None of the above" probably leads the verdicts but he does at least come out as least  unpopular. Clegg is seen as simply rather limp wristed and Miliband as a London geek. For the Tories the 2015 electoral mathematics are problematical. Their coalition non-partners, the Lib Dems  have in a hissy fit  prevented the correction of the constituency sizes which , all things being equal, means that they have to work far harder to secure an overall majority than does Labour. Their new challenge this time around will come from having UKIP out on their right flank and potentially taking away their more right wing and anti-EU voters. The Conference task therefore will be to keep the latter on board while not frightening off those who may see the less robust stances of the LibDems more to their liking. They will probably come away saying that both wings are well catered for but the electorate may be less convinced.

In short this is the kickoff of the 2015 General Election campaign. There is no party or leader with a big or inspiring vision of a glorious or even much better future to set the contest alight. The shades are only of grey and far from exciting. Reading the book of that name will probably give more fun. The least bad or at best the least objectionable candidate and party, whoever that is,  may win,-and even then they may be compelled to do a coalition deal with a setup which this time around has shown itself to be a less than collegiate and helpful partner. The ball is in play . All need to up their game, get out of policy minutiae and jump higher for the prize.