Fixing It

I am assured that Labour intends to reduce the parliamentary fixed term to four years.

In fact, my very well-placed interlocutor told me that, "We thought that we had already made that clear." Oh, dear...

Ho, hum. I am not a believer in fixed-term Parliaments at all, but this is better than nothing.

A fixed term of four years would have made no difference to either of those wildly inflated stories, UKIP and the Scottish independence referendum.

Although UKIP would have taken far more votes at a General Election this month than it is going to take at one next year, it would still not have been the First Past The Post in any individual constituency.

Therefore, it would still have folded no more than 18 months later.

And the return of a Labour Government would have made the Yes vote in Scotland considerably smaller than it is going to be.

But there is going to be an easy win for the No side anyway, just as there would have been under that circumstance.

In 50 years' time, someone might still be writing biographies of Alex Salmond for very specialist readers.

Yet no one will even be reading biographies of Nigel Farage. It is highly doubtful that any such works will exist.

Whereas at least Salmond is going to be a chapter, Farage is already a footnote.