I suspect that politics is not a science. It may be the art of pinching the nose of society while forcing down the wrong medicine. It may seem to be the art of finding an equilibrium by polarising opinion. A bit like saying the art of boiling water by freezing it. And that can be done – as you may find out in the rare air of the tops of mountains. The economics of mountain climbing, if you miscalculate and get it wrong, you run out of breath, not due to a crisis of competition but through engine failure. A traffic jam is made worse by more powerful vehicles spewing their fumes into the air until the drivers are stupefied. The same model of self defeat exists across the political spectrum.

Prince Charles believes in the politics of harmony – being in tune with the direction of nature. The Green movement in varying degrees believe humans to be part of something far greater that affords our respect, our humility. Objectivism at the other extreme believes in the power of individual achievement. When the objective is achieved the result looks tastes and smells like fascism. The rights of ownership and control of assets become the rights of ownership and control of people.

The politics of the “Liberal Democrats” is fundamentally two faced. It is the convenience of truth that informs it. If Liberal means more freedom to exploit and democrat means in the hands of the people, the amalgam of these two ideas is everyone screwing everyone else. No wonder Clegg won so much power.