Ashdown Clegged?

"Right, Paddy, we couldn't possibly afford these things. Unless, of course, we cancelled Trident and pulled out of Afghanistan. Those commitments, together with these spending promises, would triple our seats. Which is it to be, Paddy? Which is it to be?"

Whether Clegg is that hard in another matter.

In any case, free personal care for the elderly, and abolition of undergraduate fees, are like the abolition of hospital car-parking charges, among other things. Any preferential spending in Scotland must be extended to the whole United Kingdom, paid for by a reduction in the block grant to the Scottish devolved body, which has its own revenue-raising powers with which to make up the shortfall. Easy.