Tuesday 11th March

One of my favourite films as a child, and I saw it several times on telly, so it must have been a staple of Sunday afternoon films which even though they were repeated so often never lost their magic, was the Incredible Shrinking Man.  Let me set the scene  – a mysterious cloud passes over his sailing boat and a few weeks later his wife noticed his trousers were getting slacker and he was losing both height and weight. He continued to shrink and had battles with cats and dogs.  Then he is sitting normal again in his home, everything is okay – until the camera pans out and he is in his very own dolls house.  Great props and trick photography made a really memorable, and of course black and white, film.  He eventually disappears into infinity and we presume meets his maker somewhere on the cutting room floor.

I was quite taken aback by the latest incarnation of Nick Clegg at his parties’ Spring Conference.  He looked older, worn-out and weary.  His grey shirt and dour suit didn’t help – neither did the slogan “#WhyIamIN” – which when deciphered still made little impression.  Gone was the young vibrant man of ideas who was going to do things differently, gone was the winner of TV debates, gone was the Nick everyone wanted to agree with.  Instead we had another failed politician reduced to uttering platitudes as to why he loved Britain, an even weaker image than John Major twenty odd years ago.   Just surviving seems to be his only goal, as both leader and as Deputy Prime Minister.  There are now rumours swirling around Westminster as to who will succeed him at the coming debacle.  Sorry, I mean General Election.