Ouch...

For all the attention that the Liberal Democrats are getting just now, there's no denying that they're in a hell of a hole. A significant degree of the Brown bounce is the haemmorhage of Lib Dem support to Labour. And although this is not entirely due to the leadership of Ming Campbell, he sure as hell isn't helping. It doesn't matter how many times he reminds us that he was an olympic athlete - he looks every bit of 66.

The Patry Conference Broadcast that I inadvertently saw last night was one of the most tragically funny things I've ever seen. The first half tried to portray Ming as a modern, active politician, saying all the right-on things about climate change and so forth. It then ended showing Ming whith (presumably) his grandchildren. It was astonishing - you expected him to get out a bag of Werther's Originals at any minute. It ended showing him arthritically playing rugby in the back garden (still better than the England backs admittedly) before scoring a goal against his 10 year old grandson. The goal was then repeated. In slow motion. Gak.

If that was funny, this is less so. On current polling trends, Electoral Calculus reckons the Lib Dems will fall to 5 seats in an Election. Five Seats. Time to retire Ming. Again.