Is governing not as easy as it appeared last May?

What a political week it has been topped off, of course, with the sensational resignations of Andy Coulson and Alan Johnson.

Apart from this we’ve had amongst others:-

The defeat over prisoners’ voting

Unemployment rising markedly

Inflation move worryingly upwards

Fuel prices

The Lords filibuster against the electoral reform plans

The growing protests over the removal of EMAs

The reception being given to the NHS reform plans

Cameron’s alleged “betrayal” of the disabled child

My guess is that the most important are the underlying economic trends. People are starting to feel a bit poorer as what they can buy with with their incomes is less.

I wonder whether this will be reflected in the two major telephone polls – by ICM and Ipsos-MORI – that are being carried out this weekend. Will we see further moves away from the coalition partners to Labour? On the face of it that should be expected – the questions are will it and what will be the scale.

This morning I’m taking part in a discussion on these and other political developments on 5Live just after 8am

Mike Smithson