Here is a smattering of the many articles I’ve found informative or infuriating in this week’s Sunday papers.

Firstly, a leader in the Independent argues that Coalition has improved the quality of government by ensuring more than one party’s ideas are heard:

Granted, the old bipartisan system has its advantages – it gives clarity and stability to government – but one thing the experience of coalition has done is to remind us that government is sometimes improved by having to take into account more than one view. We may have to get used to these compromises which are, of course, perfectly normal for many of our European neighbours. The only certainty is that there is no certainty and it’s rather exhilarating.

The Observer looks at Liberal Democrat prospects both at the polls and with tough choices after all the election. Robert Ford’s analysis of seat battles is reasonable on the types of battle we are facing – all of them tough – but deeply flawed on the “lost causes” he identifies. He clearly has no idea what is happening on the ground and is basing his projections on uniform swings. While it will be great to see his face dripping with egg yolk on May 8th, it bothers me that our opponents will be packaging this as “leading academic says” in our seats. It simply is not credible to say that in the likes of Edinburgh West and East Dunbartonshire, where Mike Crockart and Jo Swinson are out-campaigning everybody and have been for years that the seats are lost. He puts nine of our seats in Scotland in that category, which is simply wrong. I don’t know anybody with a working knowledge of Bradford East who expects David Ward to lose and who would bet against Duncan Hames in Chippenham? He also counts Cambridge as a “tight urban battle” despite the Ashcroft poll this week showing a sensational boost for Julian Huppert. If you’re going to tell us that we have a lot of tight fights on our hand, well, you are stating the bleedin’ obvious. But don’t write off clearly winnable options.

Oh, and any list of possible gains that doesn’t include Layla Moran in Oxford West and Abingdon is a very poor show.

Toby Helm et al look at our post coalition decision making and make the startling revelation that it might just be difficult to get the party to sign up to another deal with the Tories. Who knew? Gordon Lishman, Martin Tod and Naomi Smith are all quoted in it.

The Sunday Times (£) has a deeply flawed article about the digital campaign written by Tim Shipman. It’s hard to take an article seriously that describes the SNP like this:

Rivals say what her party lacks in technology and sophistication is more than made up for by the army of “cybernats” who pumped out Vines of her best moments on Twitter.

The cybernats are actually the nasty, abusive band of nationalists who take a swipe at anyone with the temerity to disagree with them. The SNP has had one of the best digital campaigns in the UK, certainly since 2011 when they won their overall majority in Holyrood against all the odds.

All Shipman has to say about the Liberal Democrats is:

For the Liberal Democrats the technology is primarily a means of defence. Ryan Coetzee, the party’s chief strategist, has conducted 140 polls in the party’s 57 existing seats along with three or four possible seats to identify groups of voters in the “Lib Dem universe” susceptible to the party’s message.

Where not enough people were located, about 10 seats were abandoned as lost causes.

There’s nothing about how the party is using highly effective videos across social media to get its point across – like these for Dorothy Thornhill, Lynne Featherstone and Simon Hughes.

Scotland on Sunday highlights some pretty awful comments by former SNP Deputy Leader Jim Fairlie and quotes Malcolm Bruce:

Scottish Liberal Democrat president Sir Malcolm Bruce said: “In his hunt for reasons to explain why his campaign lost the referendum vote, Jim Fairlie has resorted to blaming voters – some of whom come from other parts of the world to live and work here.

Jim Fairlie’s bizarre solution should be unthinkable to every democrat.

Alex Salmond managed to secure himself a column in the Press and Journal after stepping down as First Minister. Malcolm Bruce, as the Sunday Herald reports, wants him to tell us how much he’s getting from that and book royalties.

Also in the Sunday Herald, an article about LBC’s all female election debate on Thursday 9th at 7 pm:

Conservative education secretary Nicky Morgan, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, Liberal democrat crime prevention minister Lynne Featherstone and Ukip deputy chairman Suzanne Evans have signed up to the LBC 90-minute showdown.

The first all-female broadcast debate, chaired by political blogger and commentator Iain Dale, will include audience questions and an ‘Ask Me Anything’ section giving the politicians the chance to quiz their rivals on any election issue.

What have you been reading today?

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social