What a difference a month makes

摘要

If a week is a long time in politics, then a month is an eternity. The party conferences have come and gone. Famous names in banking have been merged or nationalised. And the Government has been reshuffled. So where does this leave the political scene? All three party conferences were overshadowed by the economic turmoil. But, as normal business is resumed at Westminster, it is the Liberal Democrats who have been left languishing. That's despite deputy leader, Vince Cable, continuing to sound authoritative on the economy, and leader, Nick Clegg, seeing off an internal revolt on his tax and spending plans - although it still is unclear where ￡20bn worth of savings are coming from. And, like the Tories, talk of cutting public spending, so fashionable in July, may, in October, be seen to be accelerating rather than easing the impact of theit crunch.