We're still here...

Please excuse the lack of noise from TMP, but we're still waiting for something significant to emerge from the maelstrom of presumption and guesswork that results from a coalition where the blending of two manifestos remains wonderfully conflicted and unclear.

The Labour leadership election is - as widely predicted - another big yawn, despite the BBC's efforts to award it an importance it does not warrant. Who ever wins it will have little option but to be doing the Trade Union's bidding because they ain't getting funded from anywhere else.

The Liberal democrat conference reminds us all once more that the LibDems are mostly only concerned to be regarded as the "thinking Trot's Labour Party", with more visceral socialism on parade than has been seen at any recent Labour Party conference.

Cheery things to look forward to include Cameron's promised bonfire of Quangos and reduction of the bonkers excesses of H&S. Other than that, it looks like all pain.

So overall, the world is in a very awkward place. The "private sector" is still overwhelmed by the usual behemoths like banks, telcos and "globalised businesses", who continue to get away with operating cartels and monopolies that are clearly not in the interests of consumers. Less crucially, but still significantly, US media companies are desperate to redefine their roles in a world where there is more media accessible to more people than ever. Efforts like http://bit.ly/dxOsOc to turn a TV show into an immersive lifestyle experience seems to be trying to adapt the sort addictive environment that is apparent amongst the followings of cult computer games. You only have to mention the word "addictive" within earshot of a marketing person and a campaign is born. Please God, grant the human race the ability to resist this sort of mind-numbing claptrap.

Just in case the summer doldrums have lulled us into a false sense of calm, we learn that August produced the UK's biggest ever PSBR and the worst ever trade imbalance. It's still desperate out there. And it is still pretty much entirely the fault of Gordon Brown's 13 years of fumbled fiscal misdirection where the national assets were frittered away to buy 3 elections.

So it's a good time to sit back and observe.