Strong Government

(Car buffs - ignore any technical errors in the following conversation.)

Car sales: What sort of car are you looking for sir?

Customer: Well I fancied a Saab 9.3 Vector, turbo-diesel, 4 door convertible in metallic grey with a grey soft top.

Car sales: Sorry sir, we only do black soft-tops in some of the Vector convertible range. If you wanted a grey soft-top you'd need a 2 door or a conventional engine not a turbo-diesel.

Customer: In that case I think I'll buy a Skoda.

Why do politicians insist on saying that it is better to have strong government than government with a small majority, or even a coalition? People do not generally completely change their order when one small component of their preference is unavailable. 'I won't have a cooked breakfast because they have no mushrooms' syndrome. They live with it and work with it.

I have a slight preference for who wins the next election. I don't think it would be better to have the complete opposite of my preference than to have a government that can only act on that part of its manifesto with which it can get cross-party agreement. In fact that might even be stronger government than having a complete u-turn every five or ten years.

Juts a thought.