The One That Is Finding It Hard. . .

It's odd really. Since the election, and certainly since Dave and Nick did the deed, I've found it hard to get posts up here, I don't know how many I've started and then binned.

For the last thirteen years my daily mantra seems to have been 'oh foR FUCK'S SAKE!' as idiotic policy follows cretinous initiative. I despaired as every day something emerged to further clip our wings, waste our money or engineer our society. But since that bunch of bastards got thrown out, things have been, well, kinda good.

Granted I will not support everything they come up with, a good deal of what they do will make me angry and see me wheel out my mantra again. But it is early days yet, and the work thus far has been, in the main, welcome.

Anger is a good motivator.

There are problems, like a city overtaking by a liberating army, the guerillas will take up position on the hills outside the walls and the old guard in the offices will do their best to resist and frustrate. The civil service is hugely politicised now, believe me, I know, I work there.

So, given the story that Michael Gove has decided to do away with the General Teaching Council because of its abject failure to deliver on its mission, I am not in the least bit surprised to see that the response is thus:

"We are seeking legal advice on our position and will be seeking urgent clarification from ministers and Department for Education officials on the implications of today's announcement for the GTCE's work over the next period and for its staff and members."

So what's that? A government department threatening to sue the government? This is what happens when you give a faceless department effective say over the life and death of people without accountability. The people that have say over their life and death give them a taste of their own medicine, and all of a sudden it is the threat of court. And who's money is going to pay for any legal advice? Yes. Ours.

Game over, sorry.

It's not all sweetness and light. This new administration will be duped or dragged along by some of the old guard, as we've seen in the recent chatter about booze pricing. The ConDems would do well to give Liam Donaldson's acolytes and the fake publicly funded charidees a wide berth. Hopefully they'll learn.

What has been done in the past can be undone now, we've seen proof of that. So perhaps, just perhaps, any decisions over booze made in haste today can be countermanded tomorrow.

All things being considered, I'm happy that we now have a government that says this in light of yesterday's events in Cumbria:

David Cameron has said there should not be a "knee-jerk reaction" to changing the laws on gun ownership after 12 people were shot dead in Cumbria.

The prime minister said everything must be done to make sure it "cannot happen again", but existing controls were among the "toughest" in the world.

When the shadow (and former) Home Secretary is saying this:

After the Home Office revealed that the killer had held a shotgun certificate for 15 years, as well as a rifle licence gained in 2007, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson said a tightening of checks needed to be considered.

Mr Johnson said there might be a case for incorporating mental health checks into the system following claims that it is too easy for rural residents to gain access to firearms.

Knee jerk and quickie legislation, always a recipe for bad law, and one of Labour's hallmarks. Something must be done, this is something, so it must be done. To be seen to do nothing is the worst crime. With Labour it isn't about effectiveness or fairness, but the perception of the party.

The sad thing is for Labour, that even now we (and they) have been rescued from the downward spiral of desperate ideas and legislation, there is still a significant part of the party which cannot help themselves. It's like watching a cat trying to jump through a closed patio window every day. In its heart of hearts it knows what the outcome will be, but it does it because it has no idea what else to do.

Sadly again for Labour, the worst practitioner of this is currently leading the party.

And that is why I'm finding it hard to get motivated at the moment. No longer do we have a government which comes out with utter bottywater like this:

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman says the party rules should change so half the shadow cabinet are women.

No, you see, Harriet, what we really need is for the cabinet to be 100% staffed by absolutely the best people for the jobs they have, regardless of anything as irrelevant as gender, sexuality, race or preferred method of potato preperation.

Let's hope it will be a long, long time before we see them back.