I am beginning to think that the Tories are not actually at all confident about getting anywhere near to winning a general election, despite what they and the opinion polls are saying.

You know how the greens, BNP, Moster Raving Loonies, UKIP and Lib-Dems keep coming up with totally unfeasible ideas because they know they will not find themselves in a position to have to implement them?  (Actually some of the Lib-Dems ideas might be OK in principle: they just would not work in practise and/or would not be compatible with other policies of theirs)

I think the Tories must feel they will not run the country soon and that makes them free to come up with daft ideas like turning left on red lights, freezing the minimum wage, pulling their MEPs out of the EPP group[*], selecting candidates by Big Brother-style text voting, and so on.  It would explain why they are happy to say we must look at environmental impacts while also trying to join NAFTA to encourage more trade with countries whos nearest shore is 3000 miles away instead of countries within spitting distance.

I feel happier believing that than believing that they really are sincere. 

[*] OK. So they don't need to be elected to do this. They could do it now. Its the one thing Cameron said he would do and which he is in a position to do , but he hasn't done it. It gives us hope that other mad schemes like flat tax rates (another name for tax cuts for higher earners) would also not be carried through.