Labour's lead dramatically cut

Oh well. Gordon Brown's "honeymoon" as PM appears to have ended after 100 days. A strong Tory fightback in last week's conference has seen Labour's lead in the polls slashed - one even has the Tories neck-and-neck with Labour (see here). I won't vote Tory at the next election, but I would welcome a strong fightback that saw them or Labour incapable of forming the next government on their own. Sadly, I foresee one or other winning comprehensively, with the same old problems following (if Cameron wins, expect his first term to mirror Blair's - universal popularity rapidly goes to his and his ministers' heads, and the whole sorry affair begins again with blue instead of red).

There was a telling remark made by Robert Harris on Radio 4 last night. When discussing his new book, which appears to be a thinly veiled satire of Tony Blair, Harris pointed out that another consequence of the terrorist threat is that our government now shuttles from place to place in bombproof cars, barely getting to touch the real world at either end. It's just another example of how far removed from reality this government is, and how it's allowed the terrorists to win by rapidly eroding our civil liberties in the name of "security". Cameron is right when he says "old politics" no longer works - but if he does get the reins of power, how soon before he decides the old politics is a good enough fit for him?