Some of Britain's tabloids, in case you hadn't noticed, have begun urging David Cameron to go for a snap election in 2012. They reason that despite all the economic gloom he's maintaining a useful lead in the polls, therefore he'd be almost bound to win handsomely and so gain a legitimate mandate for 'restructuring' our society. Presumably, as they hate Nick Clegg so much, they'll be banking on an outright Tory win. As things stand, Cameron's coalition of Tories and Lib Dems is not doing that well as a political unit. Its restructuring efforts so far (after a year and a half in power) isn't winning it many friends that I can see. Recently, even one of the prime minister's ardent fans, the nauseating Stephen Pollard of the Express, wrote that the Coalition's 'cuts are only just beginning. The deficit is still not under control. Growth is anaemic. And the prospects for 2012 are lacklustre'.
Pollard seems to want the wunderkinde to get his finger out and press on. Anyway, his negative assessment is more or less in line with a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which warns that Britain should 'brace itself for a bleak 2012'. Despite this downbeat message however, the CBI director general John Cridland, a totally impartial voice of course, thinks 2012 "could be the springboard to a better future if debt is tackled". Cridland considers that the Cameron/Osborne austerity drive as a main correctional tool is the right way to go. Translate that as: more Plan A for the coming year, and devil take the hindmost. The CBI boss is of course against the anti-capitalist 'Occupy' movement which sprang up in the US, Britain and Europe this year.
In truth, and irrespective of the eurozone crisis, the Coalition has flak coming at it from all quarters. On the health front in particular, many doctors are saying that cuts to the NHS are affecting patient care. If you remember, Cameron promised to "cut the deficit, not the NHS". But he's also cutting the Science budget too, although he specifically said he wouldn't. The impression I get is that it's hard to trust what this guy says. Much of his Coalition's programme is seriously (and I mean seriously) affecting the lives of thousands and thousands of ordinary people. And the cuts in their finances are in turn affecting the High Street by causing closures and job losses. Less money in a household means less money spent in the shops. And it isn't those people calling for austerity who this is happening to either. One has to wonder, who is actually keeping Cameron ahead in the polls? Is he there mainly because of the way his media admirers generally present him as a personality (combined with the way they simultaneously slag off Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg of course)? One of Cameron's fans said recently: "He has this ability to stand on a stage in front of people and talk for an hour or more without notes". Well, lots of people can do that, some of them rank amateurs too. They're called actors.  

Hope you all have a happy New Year anyway!