Cameron still in denial

David Cameron just doesn't get it. Asked recently on The World at One why he opposed the Lisbon treaty, he replied that there's hardly anything in it about climate change, which is what Europe should be concentrating on. That sounds startlingly old fashioned.

And in the Commons he's been talking of state employees having to learn to do more with less money. That wouldn't begin to address the depth of the UK's economic mess. They'll have to accept that they'll be doing less - with very much less.

For all his alleged intelligence, it really starts to seem that David Cameron just doesn't get it.

And coverage of his reform proposals is notably sceptical, as Richard North points out. Especially dismissive is Simon Jenkins.

If he wants to be believed, he should say specifically what he will do - with timescales. Commentators are pointing to the wiggle room Cameron has handed himself. To get some credibility he must voluntarily box himself in, with concrete measures and timescales.

As I posted earlier, Frank Field is at least making concrete proposals for parliamentary reforms.

But Cameron's proposals on greater autonomy for local councils look meaningless, just as his words on a possible referendum on the Lisbon treaty look incapable of bringing any results.

He appears to have a gimlet eye on political plausibility. In a fast moving non-financial crisis it's not hard to outdistance the plodding Brown. But Cameron's reform agenda is looking threadbare already.