Richard, as a party member I didnt skip to the end but read your every word, every last self-congratulatory, self-deluding word. While the Coalition is cutting into the fabric of civil society, uprooting public services, ditching public sector jobs by the tens of thousands, it is frankly astounding that you can sit down and write sentences like, "...and also ensure that the life chances of every person are never blighted by the circumstances of their birth - everyone should have an opportunity for greatness", or "We should be a party of hope, not fear and ensure that every child is given the chance to do great things."

You seem to be utterly unaware of the consequences of government policy and the desperation and poverty which they are creating at the bottom of the ladder (and arguably at other rungs further up). Which is why I`m here to put you right. This is a coalition of the damned and the doomed - your upbeat messages and reports will matter not a whit when the next round of elections loom into view. Then hold onto your hat, matey - its going to be a rough ride.

First of all, it's 'principle' and not 'principal'.

Secondly, Clegg gave you a vague soundbite which you have chosed to embellish with your own meaning while claiming it was what he meant. As a now ex-Lib Dem voter, this is part of the core problem The Lib Dems don't know what they stand for, and you're consistently voting through measures that the public did not vote for - especially the NHS reforms. From Cleggmania to 8% in the polls is a shift I have never seen before, and you'll be lucky to get into double figures by the next election. You can all shout and try to differentiate yourselves from the Tories as much as you want at Conference, but it won't work and it won't wash.

I understand why the Lib Dems wanted to get into government in the national interest, but it was always going to lead to the virtual destruction of the party. Clegg is a Tory in a yellow suit, much in the way Blair was a Tory in a red one. It would have been far better for the Lib Dems to allow a situation such as existed in Scotland before this year's election: allow a minority Tory government which would have to negotiate in order to put through its policies, and not have the confident swagger that it has just now. The Tories are acting with impunity at the moment, and the Lib Dems are allowing them to do so. Being a strong coalition partner involves saying 'no' as well as 'yes', but I fear that the Lib Dems within the coalition lack the balls to do so.

I remember Ken Clarke appearing on a TV program sometime the mid-90s where an audience member who had suffered terribly during the downturn of the previous years challenged him on Tory economic policy. It would have been easy enough for Clarke to sympathise with the man's predicament while making the case that those policies had been necessary, however painful. Instead, his whole demeanour was jovially dismissive. His simple critic didn't understand the harsh realities of government. That was the attitude.

And that's the attitude we're seeing from LibDems now. If they really have convinced themselves that forcing ordinary people to suffer disproportionately to pay for the greed of the super rich is a sign of LibDem hard-headedness, of their being "a serious party of government", and that those who are so incomprehensibly angry with them are probably just partisans of some sort, or just idiots, then they risk alienating the public not just temporarily but permanently. They risk winding up being seen as a second nasty party (or a third if you count New Labour).

I can see why the LibDems would lapse into this sort of over-compensatory, self-justifying conceit, given the sheer scale of the support they've lost and the criticism they've received from former supporters. But if they don't snap out of it and start showing that they understand that the anger they face is born of genuine pain experienced in the lives of real people, then they face a pretty bleak future as a party. An ingrained folk hatred of the Tories in many parts of the country - earnt during the Thatcher years - has ensured that they now can't win a general election even in the most favourable of circumstances. If the LibDems contaminate their brand in a similar way they'll never recover. They need to wake up to themselves. The spectacle of them puffing their chests out like this while people lose their jobs and their pensions is exactly why people hate politics and politicians.

The previous commentators have all made some excellent points - misters Cobley and Wearing in particular - but as somebody who has voted in the past three elections for the Lib Dems, I thought you'd be interested in knowing why I voted, and not why yourself or Mr Clegg think I voted.

I voted for absolutes: for unwaving principles and not for policy minutia. People might well accuse me of naivety for doing so, and I may be mocked for an 'immature' political understanding or some such brutal bollocks, but I think core values and moral definites should hold sway above almost any other considerations when choosing who you would wish to run your country.

Which is why I feel so, so let down. Watching and reading all the conference coverage has compounded my disappointment even more. Nobody in the party seem to have any clue about the people who voted for them, or what they were assumed to stand for. They congratulate themselves on a few minor victories, yet they fail to comprehend why I and people like me would feel so sick at knowing that my vote has allowed a Tory government to implement most of the policies unchecked, particularly their agenda of economic cuts. It's so disheartenng that the party still doesn't "get" it. I voted for principles, but I also voted *against* other principles: principles which your compliance has given authority to.

I'm ashamed to admit in public that I ever voted libdems now. Some of my fellow voters can barely look each other in the eye. You can talk about the heart and the head all you like, but unless you understand what a travesty your decision to shore up a right wing government was, you'll never come close to winning former voters like me back.

I have twice tried to post at length in response to this ridiculous article but both times the message has disappeared without trace. I shan't repeat again.

Suffice to say Frew, there is no need for you to be ashamed in believing in what you had been told - or even pledged. It is for others to feel the shame.

This article was rather rubbish.

Fooled into voting for them once - wont eb again.

People vote Libdem because it makes them feel good and kind and caring. Quite rich people are the ones who want to feel this way. Poor people don't give a rat's arse. They just want more of the money they see so rarely.

LibDems-the 21st century NonConformist conscience?