A week is a long time in Politics!

Not for a long time has politics been so much in the eye of the media, nor has it been so volatile. Ming Campbell's decision to resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats last night was yet another momentous change which will no doubt send the polls into flat spin again with Nick Clegg the front runner to succeed him. This will leave Brown even more exposed as the old man of politics...and these days he really is looking old. And will this influence how Brown performs on the European issue? I think we all expect Mr "bottle" to try to persuade us that all is well across the water and that no red lines have been breached! The man is a wimp and if his party had any sense they would see he is not the man to win the next election - probably in 2010. One way or another Brown's career as PM is not going to be a long one.

But the tragedy of all this is that the real job of running the country seems to be taking second place. What is Mr Brown's vision - and how will "Darling " afford it? I don't think either of them know. Shame on the pair of robbers who stole the Tories tax ideas - not only does their announcement on inheritance tax go against their party's principles - but it was quite simply a media stunt! The new threshold of £600,000 was achievable anyway under existing legislation. Most of us reading the Sunday papers recognise that we are going to be very much worse off under Darling's proposals for Capital Gains Tax, while the private equity target he had in mind is largely unaffected. Is this incompetence, unintelligence or both? These proposals are bad for business, bad for families......and may land up being bad for Labour

While the media remind us of our real woes - a shortage of NHS dentists, inadequate access to GPs, an obesity problem which will be on a par with smoking - what is Brown doing? Lots of promises, little action....just another review! Our health service must be de-politicised. And what of our businesses? The postal strike has really hit home - one of my constituents is having to spend an extra £10,000 a week to meet customer needs. Can the government really just sit on its hands and say - not our problem - Royal Mail have to sort it? Sorry - this sounds just like the approach to Foot and Mouth first time around - a response too late which inflicted lasting damage on the industry. Enterprise has been the great strength of this country but with this type of attitude is it any surprise we are losing our best and brightest abroad?