Fed up with all three main parties? Fancy a bold, clever, sensible independent candidate to represent your city? That's what Londoners are being offered on Thursday, but the political and media establishments are doing their best to crush her. We have a 20th-century political system failing to cope with 21st-century politics.

The recent intolerance displayed by the public towards racial abuse is encouraging

Since the referendum, the Lib Dems have been a destructive presence, endlessly opposing ideas

Nick Clegg's flagship plan for an elected House of Lords ran into an immediate storm of protest which cast doubt over whether he would be able to force it through Parliament.

The fact that the House of Lords is not a major national talking point is neither here nor there

Senior peers warned Nick Clegg last night that he will face a strong rearguard action by them over his plans to turn the House of Lords into an elected chamber.

Messing with the Lords will make Clegg look out of touch, at a time when most voters are worried about losing their job

In the unlikely event that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats can draw any consolation from their multiple election defeat, it is that it took place as early as it did in their planned five-year term in government. They have time to look back over the lessons of the past 12 months and act on them in good time for the next general election.

Clegg blamed as referendum on voting system backs status quo / Liberal Democrats left reeling after huge losses in local elections

View from the count

The coalition

While he is guilty of some misjudgements, he has also suffered some very bad luck and been let down by some naive and disgracefully fickle supporters

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister, declared that the Conservatives are still “the nasty party” after an unprecedented bust-up over their tactics in the referendum campaign during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

The British love their traditions. That is why the No2AV campaign has used the argument that it is defending a voting system that has served us, so David Cameron claims, for "centuries". But the reality is that our voting system is not a timeless ritual sanctified by antiquity but something that has evolved. Here are some key dates: