I caught pieces of Vince Cable being interviewed on the radio this afternoon attempting to defend tuition fees and I came away more adamant that they are wrong than before. I sort of accept that abolition of fees was never going to happen and I was more bothered by the fact that no senior LibDem had said that they agreed with their manifesto but as the junior partner in the Coalition they could not get all the policies that they wished through. On the face of it this seems fair enough although they appear to be giving a lot of ground on the hope that they get their watered down version of PR through but is slightly tempered by the fact they could make most promises knowing that they were never going to get power. I am reminded of the comedian (and Match of the Day reporter) Kevin Day who was in a studio one election night (vague I know but probably 2001 or 2005 on the BBC) when commenting on attractive policies in the LibDem manifesto he said that they could promise a free giraffe to every house for all it mattered as they were not going to get in. Now that they have actually got some semblance of power those rash promises are coming back to haunt them and instead of being that rather nice and friendly, but not very serious party they are going to be judged with the others and none of there policies will ever be believed creating a vacuum for the disenchanted Conservative or Labour voter. The Monster Raving Tory Party (UKIP) will always pick up loose Tories but there is a dearth of a unified left wing party on a national level. There may be the odd seat where a Socialist Party or Green Party candidate is standing (or God help us even Respect) but that choice is not available to all and there is a danger that some people may opt for the BNP (thankfully doing a good enough job of showing how ridiculous they are themselves). At the last election I had five candidates to choose from: the three main parties, UKIP and the BNP - that is not a choice. If anything good comes from the Coalition, I hope the alternative vote delivers a system whereby I can vote for somebody different next time - although as one of those disenchanted Labour voters who went LibDem for want of an alternative I may be re-enchanted by then.