The challenges ahead as we enter a new decade.

Whoever wins the General Election faces some real challenges, both political and practical. Neither will be easy.

Politically, the biggest challenge will be to regain the faith of the electorate. I hope the 2010 intake of MPs, which will be at least a quarter of the House (purely through incumbents stepping down)is filled with people of high principle. They're going to be needed, because whoever forms the next Government needs to put country ahead of party. It seems bizarre as I type that this even needs saying but all evidence points towards policy being dictated by opinion polls rather than any inner belief. This has certainly been true ever since 1997. It may have been true before but that's certainly not the way I remember it.

The practical challenges have been widely documented elsewhere, so I'll not re-state them here. In order to lead this country out of the state it's in right now will require strong resolve. Whoever forms the next Government must be ready to make himself deeply unpopular. The more hysterical the Opposition get, the better he'll be doing his job.

As we enter a new decade the political ideology should be "Doing the right thing is the best form of political expediency".