"No more Mr Nice Guy" Nick Clegg

Forget the niceties, Mr Clegg (Will Hutton, Guardian)

The Lib Dems must turn to Labour (latest Guardian editorial)

The television and newspaper media are trying to bounce the Lib Dems into an unwise shotgun marriage with the Tories. They are trying to bully and bounce the country into an unpopular government. Only 36% of voters voted Tory. Labour + Liberal Democrat voters = 62%.

The inevitable result of a deal to prop up the unrepresentative Tories would be a government that collapsed within months and the entire blame for it going to the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives being the only party with funds to fight another election.

No more Mr Nice Guy. They will only walk all over you, Nick.

There is a severe case of "group think" going on in the country. Just because more people voted for the Tories than before does not mean they have won, they still have not got a majority. There is a parliament and within that parliament every MP is equal. Whoever can form a government has won the election. Nobody has yet won. 36% of voters should not lord it over the rest just because of a febrile group think, panic over finances and bully bouncing by the media.

Nick: Do not be rushed. Do not be bounced. Don't let them walk all over you. No more Mr Nice Guy.

The alternative coalition with Labour is one that can run a full term, it also comes with ministerial trappings of course, but it is a marriage made somewhere nearer heaven and farther from hell. The Conservatives will throw you to the wolves within months, you are only going to be used and discarded. Labour really wants you and will stick with you all the way.

Feargal