Has It Started Yet?

As we’re still waiting for any major party manifesto to materialise, we’ll just have to talk about the Sunday politics shows again. Marr starts in a few minutes, followed an hour later by my personal favourite, Peston. Marr is more the David Frost cosy blanket show, and Peston is the new kid on the block with his touch screens and social tweetings.

What is there really to say? Tory landslide. Check. Corbyn meltdown. Check. But what will happen in Scotland? SNP losing a few to the unionist parties? And in the south west? Will the Lib Dem vote turn out and double their seat tally? What about those very odd tactical voting plans. Will they work? Or backfire, as they so often do? And there are some wonderful solo candidates with a high profile around this time, including the brilliant Jack Monroe.

So we head into another week without a manifesto or a clear direction. Is parliament still sitting? Yes, and it will be dissolved formally on Wednesday, 3rd May 2017. That was easy.

When does parliament return? We will be told that officially on 3rd May, along with the date of the Queen’s speech which will set out the legislative agenda of the new government. Which in fact will be the same, old government. And it will need to set out a five year plan, so Brexit will not be the whole story. It cannot afford to be. If the EU is as irrelevant and pointless as Brexiteers claim, then there is no need to spend more than five minutes talking about it.

What about schools? Doomed. Hospitals? Doomed. Crime? Probably doing okay. Prisons? Doomed. There is a lot to talk about, now that we have decided to leave the EU. And talking for two years about how, when, if and why we are leaving will be a very big mistake. Life, as they say, is too short.