an english seaside resort when the summer has gone, the day is dull, and the gray sea rolls onto empty beaches, is a stern test of morale and spirit for any bouncy extrovert, even for politicians. Yet, the politicians of this so-called home of parliamentary democracy scarify their souls every year by holding their annual conferences in such dismal settings.

Because I like underdogs, I went to the Green Party's annual conference at Hastings on the south coast near the spot where William the Conqueror beat the British in ad 1066. There were a few journalists there. But only because the greens were to debate the motion that they should give up fighting general elections altogether as they were too expensive, and because no green candidate had ever got into parliament