So, we move into uncertain times. I must confess to a certain anxiety over the future of the NHS, an institution that still plays a large part in my life, five years on from my spinal cord injury.
The Conservative Mantra of 'saving one pound on every hundred' is worrying. For what seems like a simple suggestion doesn't make sense when it is applied. What if they had suggested losing one Nurse in every hundred? One Doctor? One Police Officer? One teacher? One Consultant?
How about not doing one MRI scan in every hundred?
Of course, all the parties have been reticent about spelling out how they intend to reduce the deficit. It's unpopular, so it's not surprising. But cuts are coming, of that we can be sure.
The lack of straight talking honesty was probably best summed up by an advert for Asda supermarkets during the TV coverage on channel 4 last night.
The ethereal choral soundtrack would not have been out of place were we watching Frank Capra's heroes at the moment they discover Shangri-La.
Instead, the screen was filled with a floating, radiant pyramid made of bottles of gin, filling the aisle of a supermarket. And on special! [Music rises, more strident, "Laa laaa daa laa"] Gin! Bargain Gin!
Are we being serenaded by the sirens of a Hogarthian Gin Lane? Is this a call to fill our heads with Dutch courage before we bury them in the sand, while the bankers continue to swill their beer?
Or was it just a crap advert?
Only time will tell.
The Conservative Mantra of 'saving one pound on every hundred' is worrying. For what seems like a simple suggestion doesn't make sense when it is applied. What if they had suggested losing one Nurse in every hundred? One Doctor? One Police Officer? One teacher? One Consultant?
How about not doing one MRI scan in every hundred?
Of course, all the parties have been reticent about spelling out how they intend to reduce the deficit. It's unpopular, so it's not surprising. But cuts are coming, of that we can be sure.
The lack of straight talking honesty was probably best summed up by an advert for Asda supermarkets during the TV coverage on channel 4 last night.
The ethereal choral soundtrack would not have been out of place were we watching Frank Capra's heroes at the moment they discover Shangri-La.
Instead, the screen was filled with a floating, radiant pyramid made of bottles of gin, filling the aisle of a supermarket. And on special! [Music rises, more strident, "Laa laaa daa laa"] Gin! Bargain Gin!
Are we being serenaded by the sirens of a Hogarthian Gin Lane? Is this a call to fill our heads with Dutch courage before we bury them in the sand, while the bankers continue to swill their beer?
Or was it just a crap advert?
Only time will tell.
Tim, would love to hear some more from you about the chaos surrounding the election result, and whether you think the alternative coalitions are viable.