Matthew Parris is feeling uninspired:
Where today is the bold advocacy, the impatience to persuade, the urgency of argument? Where are the shouts of “Here's how!”? It is as though the stage were set for some kind of theatrical climax, but peopled only with stage hands and the rattle and murmur of the scene-shift. Where are the leading actors, the big voices, the great thoughts?
Pictures of David Cameron in his kitchen, a family scene sweetly contrived to frame his thoughts on paternity leave, or whatever, and images of the passionless figure cut by Alistair Darling at the dispatch box, his grey stare charged with all the philosophical depth of a shop-window mannequin, stick in my mind. Are these the spirits of the political age?
Mr Parris's has half a point, the half that applies to Labour. But his portrayal of the Conservative platform deserves a robust response. Yes, David Cameron posed for a photo-opportunity. So what? His team are also busy producing in-depth policy proposals on issues of vital importance.
Here's Michael Gove on school reform, Chris Grayling on welfare reform and Nick Herbert on prison reform. And if it's "great thoughts" you want, here's David Willetts' Oakeshott Lecture on, well, life, the universe and everything.
Unfortunately, Mr Parris is far too busy to engage with any of that, what with his busy schedule:
From the window of my flat in London I can watch the Thames as the tides and seasons change. March is a kind of turning point. The river now is full of surprises, forever distracting me from my work. As the skies keep changing, so does the water's apparent colour: blue-grey to brown, to greeny-grey flecked with white, to almost black.
Great thoughts, indeed. But if Matthew can bear to tear himself away from the psychedelic distractions of the River Thames, he might just find that there's more going on in the Conservative Party than the everyday business of photo-opportunities.
