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Liberal Democrat Party Conference: Nick Clegg keynote speech; 3148 pages worth, in fact.At a best guess, that’s about 1.8 million words.That is three times as long as War and Peace.Or two and half thousand readings of The Gruffalo.I think they’re hoping to produce so much of this stuff that no-one will have the time to read it.Because, out of all those 1.8 million words.Guess how many translate into concrete commitments?None. Not one.You see, when you promise, you have to choose.When it’s all “blue skies thinking” – you can say everything, no matter how contradictory.You can say you want fairer taxes – but propose to spend billions cutting inheritance tax for the very richest in the land.You can call for the European Union to be stronger against the Russians – while still plotting to break it in two.You can say you’ll protect civil liberties – and then call for extra surveillance powersYou can cycle to work – and have your driver follow behind.They are a say everything, do nothing party.David Cameron and his cronies have tried to take over every comforting, soft-focus word in the dictionary.They are for work-life balance, fairness, motherhood, apple pie, saving the planet and custard.You have to admire, I suppose, the sheer gall of someone who worked for Margaret Thatcher claiming he cares about poverty.But that arrogance.That born-to-rule conceit.That sense he’s already picking out curtain patterns for Number 10.That’s not what Britain needs.Power must be earned, not inherited.What Britain needs now is absolute honesty about the situation we’re in.And big, bold ideas to set us right.