Bring 'em on!

Predictably Nick Clegg's success in he first leaders'' debate means that the knives are to be turned on the Liberal Democrats and our policies. According to yesterday's Guardian "Some Conservatives are pressing Cameron to expose Clegg's support for an earned amnesty for illegal immigrants, (and) his willingness to keep anyone given a sentence of less than six months out of jail..."

Well, "Bring 'em on!" as I believe President Reagan (or was it Bush?) said. The first policy is the mark of a civilised society and the second is common sense, since "Prison is an expensive way of making bad people worse." (It was a Troy, I can't remember which, who said that.)

For good measure, why not add giving prisoners the vote? That should really set the cat among the pigeons, but if candidates had to canvass prisoners for votes that would ensure that the appallingly uncivilsed and counter-productive conditions in some of our prisons received attention.

I hope Nick Clegg and our campaign leaders have the courage to stick to our guns on these and other human rights issues. They are the mark of a mature society at "ease with itself" (John Major) . We must not let the Daily Mail set our agenda.