Of course, they're not my "glad-ish tidings" but those of Mr. Dan Hodges, the columnist for The Daily Telegraph. But first, a word about Mr. Hodges, himself. I had not realised that he was the son of Glenda Jackson, a superb actress but now the grim-visaged Labour MP for Hampstead & Highgate. An American critic described "her helmet of hair and gashed features" which sums up her appearance exectly. She was born a 'scouser', Birkenhead, to be exact, and ever since has remained faithful to the extreme Left nonsense that 'scousers' imbibe with their mother's milk. Nothing wrong with that, she might be mistaken - or daft - but at least she has stuck to her principles even when it cost her political advancement under Blair, a man I suspect she detested even more strongly than Maggie! So, Mr. Hodges has interesting antecedents. Even more interesting is that whilst he is a Leftie he has eschewed the extremism, or perhaps I should describe it as the dogma, of his mother and, according to his Wiki entry, he seems to decide political matters as much on reason as on passion. He is also personally a very brave man. He stood up to some racist louts in a pub who were slagging off some blacks and was 'glassed' by one of them and blinded in one eye.
Anyway, today in The Telegraph, he takes a long, cool and, er, one-eyed look at the recent polling history for the forthcoming election. His forecast, subject to the usual caveat that no 'Shlock-Horror' scandal breaks out, is that Labour will definitely lose. UKIP will wither on the vine when people find themselves alone inside the voting booth and the vast majority of the turncoats will return to the Tories. Regrettably, he reckons that the LibDems will do better than their current miserable poll ratings but the good news is that those returning to the fold will be the ones Labour was banking on to vote for them. If Hodges is right then, dammit, through gritted teeth I hope the LibDems do better - but definitely not too well!
Mr. Hodges indicates that it is not possible to forecast a Tory win with any certitude, he suspects that another coalition might have to be formed. To set an example to you all, I will now commence a strict regime of daily prayer that 'Dave' sneaks back in with a small but just about workable majority which will mean that the Tory Right, mostly anti-EU, will have their well-polished brogues on his throat. I expect all of you to join me in this daily ceremony!
