Looked like a pig, flew like one – did it really fly?

Late last night I was personally contacted by a very senior nationalist source. He was keen to stress that all nine Welsh and Scots nationalists could, and would, deliver an enduring, stable element to a Lib/Lab coalition government. They believe a deal can be struck that could deliver a government with an effective majority of 14.

I am mindful of yesterday’s extraordinary Snowmail thread – particularly the matter of a small nationalist tail wagging the English dog. Tom Wright raises the issues well.

But I have a rare Snowmail confession and apology.

The pig did fly. I withdraw my scepticism unreservedly. Saltaire Sam is right to talk of dignity in Brown’s resignation. When I saw Gordon Brown come out into Downing Street amid “the loneliness of the long distance lectern performer” and heard words that replicated almost exactly those that I had warned he would never utter, I felt considerably chastened.

I also suffered a strange illusion. I thought I felt the heavy hand of Mandelson on my shoulder. Unlike the flying pig, it WAS an illusion. As for any heavy hand from Mr Campbell, there was none. Having survived the altercation with Mr Boulton on Sky (do catch it on YouTube!) immediately before I spoke to him on Channel 4 News, Mr Campbell had the bearing, not of a flying pig, but of a lamb skipping toward an undescribed and entirely unexpected new horizon!

We have said it so often in this past political year: UK politics will never be the same again. We are suddenly in a moment when the Con/Lib Dem pact looks more unstable that the hotchpotch rainbow lash-up that is now in play. But so bad is the economic crisis facing Britain that the ingredients still exist for an extraordinarily stable response to the challenge – one which chimes with the wartime coalition I discussed yesterday.

The excitement is palpable – you can touch the uncertainty, but you can also sniff the relief that something profoundly different will emerge, whatever the detail. I like what Brian Philpotts, Arthur Complainer and particularly Igatz Mice have contributed to our Snowblog thread.

Joy is it to be alive and to be allowed the role of reporter in these amazing times. May Snowblog long continue to be somewhere where, whatever our prejudices, we can share this remarkable moment in the affairs of man and woman.

How serendipitous that Europe should have found some medium-term fix for the Greek-inspired doubts in Europe. The zoom in the markets has eclipsed a few of the lurking doubts here and perhaps given breathing space for the right solution to emerge.

I can’t wait to get to work! Now how sad is that? Not at all! Not this time round. And thanks to Kate Fox’s posting, I now have a serious conundrum – what the hell shall I put round my neck today? Will the decision I make at 7.00am still be right at 7.00pm?! Ties that bind, ties that blind….