Marina Hyde

Excellent article in yesterday's Guardian by the ever funny Marina Hyde pointing out that we Brits may not get the strong government (preferably by a dead Churchill we crave given the political prospect given the fact that every party will lose the next election so no party will have a majority to govern. She adds that Belgium managed 54l days without a government while we got only 5 after the last election and she could have added the six weeks New Zealand waited while New Zealand First had its coalition agreement with the National Party lawyered over every dot and comma

Exciting prospect. It means that the centre of government shifts from Parliament, where new MPs will, be milling around waiting to be told what to do, and Downing St where the removal vans will be hovering over College Green where the media circus will be encamped desperately waiting for news and interviewing every passing politician who strolls by (as, curiously and of course accidentally, hundreds will). Police will be on hand to stop fighting, counsellors to deal with distress, psychologists in case of Natalie Bennet moments, and hot dog stands to feed the queueing MPs. Helicopters will hover in case of terrorist disruption, though it might be difficult to distinguish it from tough interviewing, and retired Belgian politicians will be parachuted in to tell us how they do it. Financial experts will be Rollered in from the City (on mileage) to tell us that markets  are deciding against us (though in  fact as Hyde points out, Belgium grew faster without a government)

Hyde's conclusion is that the rest of Britain should secede from College Green. Mine would be let's prolong the fun there. It will be much better having no government at all than prolonging this one. At least it would make for more interesting political TV and make it clear that the Great British Clobbering Machine has finally taken over the government of the country instead of letting the political front man pretend they do.