U-turns
Politicians around the world make a lot of promises - and almost always break them. But very few British administrations in living memory have bust so many pledges quite so quickly as our Coalition Government run by our young Prime Minister, David Cameron.
The score is roughly one policy u-turn every month in the year since they took power. Here are just some: we started with a forest fire. The Government thought it could save a few bucks by selling off huge plantations of Britain's state-owned trees. They hadn't bargained on our tree-hugging habits. There was an absolute outcry and the whole scheme was dropped.
That little u-turn was more of a tiny skid compared to the rows about Cameron's plans to reform our National Health Service. Over here we give everyone free health care. But the new Government wanted a total shake-up. The doctors and nurses complained, the public protested and the scheme was shelved.
Very young schoolchildren were about to be deprived of their daily cartons of free milk under another cost-saving proposal - until, you've guessed it, the Prime Minister intervened. Some free books for children were threatened when funds were frozen. But a hostile reaction ensured the money was reinstated. Another plan - to cut 250 million dollars for school sports - was also reversed.
They wanted to reduce housing benefits for the long term unemployed - until it dawned on them that doing so would completely wreck the image of a caring government. So the role of public opinion in changing policies has been crucial. They were going to be tough on crime and automatically send anyone convicted of carrying a knife to jail. That got changed when someone counted the huge cost.
Then they decided to save money by promising that serious criminals who pleaded guilty would receive a shorter sentence. Not any more. And those accused of rape could have remained anonymous in court -- but they won't. Government Ministers describe such u-turns as sensible pragmatism. But to many people they are signs of a Government that has lost the courage of its convictions. This is Ed Boyle for CBS News in London.