A Fresh Start for Britain smells a little stale

Last night I fully intended to write a post on A Fresh Start for Britain. The trouble is that reading it - otherwise as much of it as you are authorized to read on the website without sending in your email address - absent me feeling uninspired.And reading Nick Clegg's interview in the Independent absent me terminally uninspired.Of course, Nick is right to say that the economic disaster means that whoever wins the after that vote will have to cut public spending sharply. In fact, I suspect they will have to cut it additional brusquely than most commentators have begun to grasp.But I was intensely puzzled to read that:Mr Clegg issued a wake-up call to a party which has traditionally had a long shopping list of policies but been less convincing about how it would pay for them. Such an approach was fine for "an era of plenty", he argued, but would negative longer carry conviction in times of "austerity".Puzzled, since this is the complete reverse of the truth. At recent elections the Liberal Democrat manifesto has been scrupulously costed. Like Alex Wilcock I shall be charitable and assume that Nick is having words put into his mouth here.But what depressed me was that from reading neither the interview nor the Fresh Start was it possible to gain an idea of who the Liberal Democrats think they will appeal to at the after that election.What about students? We won a some institution of senior education seats at the last vote and hope to win some more. But the pledge on abolishing tuition fees appears to be one of those headed for the party's back burner.What about pensioners? At the last vote much of our campaign seemed to be aimed at them, even though (as Simon Titley once pointed out in a Liberator article I can't locate at present) the Lib Dems do not as good as among them than any other group. Now, free individual care and a senior basic state pension are headed for that packed back burner too.Maybe this is taking too narrow an approach. Forget sectional interests: think of wider philosophical themes.Are the Liberal Democrats the party who support local community amenities and oppose centralisation and giantism? Not enough to use money on economy country post office any more.Are we the party that cares above all for liberty? That is what I would tell people, but there is precious little about freedom on the Fresh Start website.So I am absent wondering what the intended audience is for our new approach.Talk of "tough choices" could have an appeal in the austere new climate. Except that it is not at all clear that we are going to make any such choices.The Independent says that Nick:He announced two rules that will rule his party's policies: negative spending commitments without cuts somewhere else to fund them, and, similarly, negative promises of tax cuts without increases in other taxes.Yes that sounds tough. But think about it.We are proverb that we will not change the level of duty in the economy. And we will not change the level of public spending. That sounds additional like ducking hard choices to me than taking them.And isn't it churlish not to add a express of congratulation to Messrs Brown and Darling if we believe they have got belongings so exactly right?I expect a battle over tuition fees at Bournemouth and I hope that the management is defeated in it. But that will only be a token.The deeper problem is the lack of ideology in the Liberal Democrats. I thought the same when Engage, the new Lib Dem policy network, was launched. I will never oppose debate and discussion in the party, but were are the deeper beliefs that should inform that policy?Without them you end up with something like Fresh Start - a assortment of moderate, sensible views with negative particular pull on the notice otherwise support of the wider public.
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