By Darren McSweeney

Last updated at 14:11, Monday, 14 May 2012

“I BEG your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden.” – To be fair, they never did – and now two years after our coalition leaders publicly courted in the Downing Street garden, life seems to be far from rosy.

Darren McSweeney

For the PM, his deputy, his government and the country as a whole. But they’re pressing on with business anyway.

Watching the Queen’s speech, I long for the day when she stands up, looks at the government’s plans in her hands and then rips them up screaming, “What a load of….”

It didn’t happen again last Wednesday, but I live in hope that I’ll see the day.

Our Jubilee Queen trawled through the document that gave us little to get excited over. There were no surprises; everything in there was expected.

Some things we’d expected to be in there were missing however – it would now seem that Barrack Obama had dipped into Cameron’s lucky bag and ran off with the gay marriage baton ahead of the speech. Which is a bit of a shame really, it was one of the few things worthy of a lively debate – while we twiddle our thumbs and wait for the austerity measures to show any sign of having an effect!

The most exciting thing left for us is the reform of the House of Lords – I guess the plan is to replace the non-elected members with ones that are at least awake? I cannot even support these reforms as I’m still hoping to take the Baroness Warsi route myself – i.e. losing an election, acting strangely, opening my mouth without thinking and then being granted a peerage!

But all joking aside – one week after an election drubbing, I was looking for something a little more upbeat than what we were treated to.

But I guess that’s the huge problem for this government – they came into power with a financial mountain to climb and they knew they were going to annoy a large percentage of the electorate by trying to put it right as quickly as possible.

Though maybe nobody saw the Eurozone crisis crashing around us as hard as it has and this has left this government in a quandary.

The measures and cuts should have been having an effect by now, they’re not – so people see a government that while it is sticking to its guns, has very little else to excite us. We feel the pain, but see no end to it.

What we need is something to get excited about – something that people believe in that will kick start growth. The economy is going to be battered by the storm clouds from Europe, we need initiatives now that can energise businesses to grow and thrive.

A light at the end of the tunnel may seem a distant dream, but it’s something this government will have to generate if it is to survive another election.

First published at 13:19, Monday, 14 May 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk