Today's miscellany

A few more election links that people might be interested in;

• The BBC looks at bloggers' views on the election, including some edited thoughts from me.
• Left futures on the Liberal coalition narratives.
• Chris Dillow thinks that the coalition will be a stable one.
• Jill Rutter asks, which way now for immigration policy?
• Splintered Sunrise thinks the election result is shit on toast.
• Gaping silence has an apology to make, and he makes it.

I've been reading the responses of Lib Dems on their new cabinet positions and it makes really interesting reading. There are a number of activists and councillors leaving the party as you might expect, but most activists, even those that I would classify as on the left of the party are accepting the deal. Indeed every single Lib Dem MP has officially accepted the deal.

This stands in strong contrast to many of the people who weren't members of the party but who did vote Lib Dem this time who have been positively raging about the whole thing. On this I definitely do not blame Nick Clegg - he was upfront from the start. Almost the first thing he did in the election campaign was to praise Margaret Thatcher.

Those who voted Lib Dem and now feel betrayed were voting for a party that they hoped existed despite the evidence. The contradictions of the good and bad points of the Lib Dems were there to see, but many of these people decided to only see what they wanted to see. Clegg warned them, and on this was 100% honest - people just didn't want to believe it.