So Brown bottled it...

... I see Gordon Brown has run away from calling a general election (see here). If anybody believes for a moment his reasons then they're bigger fools than I could give them credit for - if he really was doing it for the country and not for his own political skin, there'd have been no speculation in the first place. But as soon as the honeymoon period ended, that was it.

By the time Brown does call an election (quite possibly at the last possible moment in 2010) - and the Lib Dems are entirely correct in proposing that there be a fixed time between parliaments instead of allowing Prime Ministers to pick and choose the date that best suits them and their party - his bluster will hopefully have been well and truly exposed for what it is.

In the meantime, we have to go back and prepare for what comes next: I'm guessing substance behind the spin will be too much to ask for...