Dag - thanks mate! Reading this stream I get no sense either of proportion, nor of the awful time that the poor, the unemployed, and the ordinary people of this country are in for.

It would be nice if I could believe that all of the posters on this forum were willing to look at practical ways we could use on the left to build support and defend services.

It is certainly germaine for us to look at the Lib Dems and see what they do in Government, but we must recognise New Labours faults in all their gory details. FA is right to say we must energetically support constitutional reform - not for party advantage, but simply because it is right.

As for the rather childish insults flying around, I prefer the slow-burning anger of those who built the Welfare State to the showy street corner pyrotechnics on display here.

Peoples lives and livelihoods are at stake - this is no game.

All three major parties were and are unacceptably dishonest.
1 The main issue was the deficit. The only relevant information was what each party would cut precisely. None of the parties provided sufficient detail upon which to base a rational vote on the issue.
2 The LibDems were obviously not going to form a majority government. The only thing any voter needed to know was which party would they support and which policies would they dump as a consequence. Without this knowledge, there was no rational basis upon which to base a vote for the LibDems. Those who did have no good grounds to complain now.
3 Same goes for the Tories: which party was it prepared to work with in circumstances of a hung parliament? Without that information, upon what rational basis could anyone vote to Tory? You had no idea what you were going to get if they did not get a parliamentary majority.
4 Labour. They were equally obscure, but, since it was unlikely they would be able or willing to form a government, who cared?
This was the most transparent election ever.
Unfortunately, it was transparently dishonest.
And if the three parties get away with it, then no progress has been made.

Prof Stephen B Williams

Exactly.

Michael Heseltine was a politician when Medhi wasnt even born,

Medhi behaved like a 3 year old brat, who doesnt know his arse from his elbow.

Abdul get a life I have never come across someone so jealous of someone as passionate as Medhi who has produced with his appearance on QT such informed and reasoned debate, if this kind of debate had taken place prior to the talks about coalition and had been read by the parties I am not so sure we would have had the con/lib alliance, Clegg is power at any price, their is one Tory MP in Scotland and some more lib dems wait until after next years elections it will become a Tory and Lib free zone thanks to Clegg. I watched Cameron on the Andrew Marr show this morning and I have a different opinion when asked who will sack the front bench appointments Cameron squirmed he will have the Lib Dems out one by one if they do not resign starting with Vince Cable realising he does not have a real job or voice in the cabinet only reporting to George Osborne. I am really concerned about Cameron's riding roughshod over democracy by having a 55% plus vote to dissolve parliament it almost appears like a banana republic,next will be immunity from prosecution, or making the 30 year rule 50 years and as for the 5% pay cut most realise that going up to a ministerial salary is an increase. As most of the Tory front bench as millionaires it should not make much difference to them. I am glad that next year we will make Scotland a Tory and Liberal free zone. Abdul give it a rest.

a tory leading the lib dems has to end in tears , no matter what they say the libs lost seats under clegg , and they will loose more . actualy they went down as soon as tory clegg said he wants a labour free uk , that served to frighten thousants back to labour at the last minute , as there was a late small swing about 1.5% back to labour at the end . i beleave becouse of tory cleggs statement . a tory leading a progressive party well they were the libs , it has to end in tears .

Raymond 666 squeels

'' I am glad that next year we will make Scotland a Tory and Liberal free zone.''

I quite agree Ray.

Gordon Broon and liebour boooted out.

Alex Salmonds SNP government running Scotland.

Tory rule in England for the next 18 to 20 years.

Life cant get any better.

You gotta laugh, havent you ?

who is this Abdul Amir Hassan who can't even spell and instead of even pretending to engage in an intelligent political debate on this site - is just resorting to childish personal insults
- are you real Abdul
- are you over 18?
- are you just jealous of all of the praise and attention Mr Hasan has received from his QT performance
actually forget answering the questions, can you please leave the rest of us grown ups to debate the real fallout from this election

Well said Abdul...you are 100% correct..superb....Abdul said:

"I loved bug eyed Medhi, really I did.
He pisssed everyone off.
He rubbed everyone up the wrong way.
He's the best advert for NOT voting liebour.
He made a COMPLETE ARSE of himself."

sarah26 - I agree with what you say.
And for Steve, Abdul and the other whig/tories out there, since when is it progress to go back to the 18th century?
Progressive seems to be a much-abused word. Is it at all possible that those of us on the Left could use the terms Socialist or Social Democrat instead?
As for Mr Hasan, or anyone showing passion, I am all for it. But passion all by itself wont save a single job. Scargill certainly seemed passionate, but along with the equally passionate Thatcher he destroyed his Union, and his members livelihoods.
Passion without intellect is no good to anyone.What is needed is a cool assesssment of the trouble ahead, and the balance of forces on each side. I am sure many Liberal Democrats are CONfused by the situation they are in, and whilst not disloyal to their party, may side with us on some issues against the government.

sarah26 squeeks

''who is this Abdul Amir Hassan who can't even spell''

Yeah, its the crime of the century, better phone the FBI, Luv.

''are you real Abdul''

Nah Luv, Im a robot.

Of course Im real for Christ sake.

According to yesterday's papers we can see Paddy Ashdown, putting pragmatism ahead of tribal views.

"But, after he (Asdown) sat down, copies of the proposed deal with the Tories were circulated at the meeting. Ashdown could not believe his eyes: there was concession after concession from the Conservatives.

He spoke again: “I’m not happy with where we’ve arrived. I’m not happy at the death of the realignment of the left. But I can see the logic of where we are. I’ve looked at his document. It’s amazing. F*** it!"

Imagine if dear Mehdi could manage to do the same for even 5 minutes never mind 5 years:

@PK

Brilliantly said. I'm no Whig-Tory: I'm a passionate Liberal but think this is absolutely the best deal available under the circumstances. REAL progressives might start looking forward to the AV referendum, and the chance it offers to begin levelling the playing field and making our politics more open and accountable. Mehdi is looking to cash in on cheap polemics. Fair enough - it won't last son!

@Kevin: Exactly.

I'm guessing the New Statesman will gradually become the official David Miliband fanzine over the next two or three years.

A sizable percentage of the population think he's too weird to be in charge of anything, but i guess you guys know best.

''Mehdi is employed as a polemicist, would you prefer he read out half time results?''

Nah he wouildnt have the brains

Stacking shelves at ASDA is more Medhs level

@Allan Sayers

The Lib Dems didn't sell out on either! Labour couldn't deliver a PR referendum. Neither party was willing to back down on Trident and the Lib Dems weren't strong enough to push the issue.

Coalition politics involves prioritising some parts of your manifesto, and accepting that other parts have to be sacrificed. I'm passionately anti-Trident, but I'm grown up enough to know that the Lib Dems couldn't make it a deal breaker.

Who is this bufoon character Abdul Amir, he need to go mental Hospital right way, this is a very serious case.

You are like a drowning man clutching at straws Mehdi, of course there will be a few people on the extremes of this progressive coalition who don't want the coalition to work.

The reality however is the vast majority of both Liberals, Conservatives and the country as whole are 100% behind this revolutionary progressive coalition and are backing it to lead us out of darkness of 13 years of Laboor

Yes Mehdi, and Tom Harris, Blunkett, Reid et al trashing the Lib-Lab idea just minutes after it was floated - that was just a dream. It never happened in Mehdi land, because he's already got his ticket on the Lib-Dem 'betrayal' waaaahmbulance punched and he can't get off now.

Pathetic. Truly pathetic.

HMS Coalition will flounder on the reefs of reality soon enough. A ship of fools with Admiral Cameron and Mad Cap'n Clegg on the bridge is doomed to disaster.

Mehdi, you were brilliant on QT last Thursday, every word you spoke was GODS OWN TRUTH!

Yawn Mahdi.

Kennedy also said this in the article:
"Like many others I was keen to explore the possibilities of a so-called "progressive coalition", despite all the obvious difficulties and drawbacks. It remains a matter of profound disappointment that there was insufficient reciprocal will within the Labour party – and they should not be allowed to pose in opposition purity as a result."

- His words - they screwed it not us... funny how you missed that bit Mehdi.

Go have a pint of bitter to wash down those sour grapes.

New Statesman = New Labour fud machine.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-513240/Lib-Con-pact-Clegg-offers...

@William Haymes

Do you seriously think that anyone would have accepted a coalition that cemented Gordon Brown in power? Even in the Labour Party? David Miliband etc?

"Daragh" and "bgp", my dear conspiratorial friends, there is no cover-up here at the NS. Perhaps you should read my NS columns before making ignorant and "pathetic" statements. Here I am in this week's magazine attacking Labour tribalists like Reid and Blunkett by name, for their role in undermining a potential Lib-Lab coalition:

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/05/brown-labour-centre-tory...

Neither Labour tribalists nor Lib Dem opportunists can escape their roles in last week's shameful episode.

Mehdi -

Then why are you piling on the Lib Dems over and over, and claiming Labour are the one true path (at least implicitly.)

You're claiming the Lib-Lab pact was a runner and blaming the Lib Dems for walking away. This is plainly not true.

You go on to claim a Conservative Minority Government would have been preferable to the coalition. How would the Tories a) ruling with deference to the right wing and with no liberal moderation b) then going to the country and gaining a majority in an election where the Libs and Labs were broke, be better than what we have now? That's the big question, and one you refuse to answer because you can't. And that endangers your new self-appointed status as tribune of the 'betrayed Lib-Dem progressives' (who according to the latest polling data are few and far between. Betrayed that is. Not progressives.)