42 days - latest

I said all along that I thought Nick Clegg had made an error in deciding that the Lib Dems would not stand in the Haltemprice by-election.

Jonathan Calder at Liberal England seems to be of the same view, pointing out today that the LDs appear to have gained nothing from the deal.

I seem not to have been alone in my view that the right thing to do in the circumstances was to vote Green. Their candidate came second, with over 7% of the vote, quite respectable in such a stolidly conservative and reactionary place.

As for the overall outcome, it doesn't seem to have moved us on very much. The "great debate" did not really materialise. The government's position is completely untenable, but it already was. It still looks to me as if Davis was probably playing some sort of internal positioning game within the Tory party.

Meanwhile, Lady Bullying-Manner has said that the 42-days plan is both wrong in principle and unworkable in practice. And she is the former head of MI5! Ha ha ha!

Coming on top of the fact that the measure was already opposed by the former Attorney-General, the former Lord Chancellor and the present Director of Public Prosecutions, Brown's astonishingly inept and useless-looking regime seems to have less and less of a leg to stand on, whichever way you look.