neither perspiration nor inspiration..

Dominic Grieve, Shadow Home Secretary, has accused the present Government wallowing directionless and energy-less in the face of the crime problem. We know what he means, - a rash of ill thought-out policies, gimmicks, stunts, but no overarching direction or purpose, except that of staving off electoral defeat. It is a tired, leaderless government.

Was it ever different?

Tony Blair once admitted that they were slightly surprised to find themselves in government in 1997, and ill-prepared. The result has been frequent re-branding and sloganising, - Third Way, Cool Britannia, and so on. The electorate bought it for a few years until its directionless nature became clear.

We had the Dome, we had half-finished constitutional policies (- devolution and House of Lords) and we had policy heaped upon policy. The policies came so thick and fast that many replaced earlier ones which had hardly begun to be applied. New laws were passed against crime, because the Government did not seem to be succeeding and before previous laws had even been used.

There was, admittedly, a sense of drive and energy which is now lacking and there was a confidence that the Government, or at least Downing Street, was master of everything, a confidence which now seems lacking.

Members of his own party are wanting Bottler to provide inspiration by a statement of his own vision, but so far he has failed to do so. Did Blair ever really convey any vision, other than than he would avoid the excesses of Socialism and Capitalism by finding a middle way?

Labour has lost its roots, even if a lack of funding is now driving it back into the arms of the unions. Welfarism has failed, poverty has become entrenched and makes its own contribution to societal breakdown. The Conservatives are now nearer to the definition of the party of the poor.

Dominic Grieve is right, the Government seems to lack energy and vision. It is different to the Blair years, when there was movement. But were the Blair years like the proverbial rocking-horse, with plenty of movement but no progress, with plenty of energy to change things but often not thought out and rushed into being? Half-baked ideas are still emerging, but there seems to be no real direction.