As an independent observer, I must confess that this Government's performance is significantly better than expected. I use the word 'performance' in the context of not doing anything stupid. Since it assumed office, the United Front has spawned innumerable cock-ups but it has not perpetrated any major crisis. Indeed, the 13-party coalition has got so accustomed to getting into trouble and then getting out of it that Gowda's team has acquired some expertise in the art of crisis management. Meanwhile, the country bungles forward. Things could be worse!