Skipper

The Liberal Democrats seem to have hit a run of bad luck, with Charles Kennedy, the most successful Liberal leader since Lloyd George, departing because of an unfortunate drink problem. Now it's Mark Oaten, an energetic and ambitious front bencher, who has stepped down because the News of the World-who else?- has exposed a six month affair he had with a male prostitute. Bad luck often seems to run in sequences I've thought -when losing at cards or any game in which luck matters- and the poor old Lib Dems are in the middle of the opposite of a 'roll'.

The only comfort is that luck seems to be cyclical and all parties cop for it eventually. Tony Blair, if you read Seldon's biography, was incredibly lucky at the start of his career, especially getting the nomination for Sedgefield, late in the day just before the 1983 election. But the one aspect of recent Lib Dem travails is the slightly lugubrious figure of Lembit Opik, the man with the starngest name in British politics. His special interest is in setting up warning systems against extra-terrestial objects hurtling towards the planet.

Maybe his name suggests some extra terrestiality himself. But his record so far in his party's scandals is that he was the only person prepared to stand by Kennedy, even though it was obvious he was finished. And he was the only person to support Oaten in hbis bid for the leadership. Bad luck is contagious; Lembit needs to ward it off by acquiring a lucky rabbit's foot I suggest.