Election week two - Sanctimony

Most of this week has been dominated by the build up to the leaders debate, the leaders debate itself, the Lib Dems surge off the back of it, parties side swiping at each other, while saying they don't do negative campaigning and of course the launching of manifestos. Outside of that:

* Brown and Cameron agree to a Paxman grilling interview, Clegg has of course already done one. Have I said how much I love Paxman? What's not to love? Cynical, gumpy and serious about M&S pants.

* Cameron launched the Tory manifesto quoting JFK. To which David Miliband said:

The words may be John F Kennedy but the policies are pure George W Bush.

We'll let slide the utter hypocrisy of a New Labour bushy poodle making such a statement.

* Brown said he may have had a part to play in this recession. Saying in an interview:

[In 1997 the banks] all came to us and said, 'look, we don't want to be regulated, we want to be free of regulation'.

All the complaints I was getting from people was, 'look, you're regulating them too much'. The truth is that globally and nationally we should have been regulating them more.

So I've learnt from that. You don't listen to the industry when they say, 'this is good for us'. You've got to talk about the whole public interest.

Oh the realisation........ that's what the government is meant to do, govern for the people who elect them. Who would have thought?

Labour Election Manifesto

New Labour shines it's atomic ray's upon the nuclear active family.

Manifesto - [man-uh-fes-toh] - noun - A document that political parties release, which promises you something for your vote. Yet changes at will when they are elected. See bribery.


Update - Another Cover.

Election Week One - In My Bag Is

An interesting week, if somewhat tedious, full of grinning politicians and glaring Gordon. I'll be doing this weekly post up to election day, essentially reading the news so you don't have to. It's a thankless task at the moment.

• The Digital Economy Bill was thrust through parliament, with little debate. Quite why it couldn't be scrutinised by the next parliament, given the concessions made by minsters. i.e restrictions on the activities of persistent copyright offenders will not come into force for a year. Instead indicative of New Labour, it was ushered along with little regard for due process. Finish how you started then. Its about the only consistent thing New Labour have done. Shamefully undemocratic and draconian.
  

• Brown spent some time this week promoting the utopian crime free future of a DNA state. The wonderful Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, challenged him:

  It has been suggested that the tragic case of Sally Anne Bowman was only solved because her murderer was 'an innocent' on the database. In fact, he was arrested for a separate violent offence and it was then that his DNA was matched to the crime scene.

So taking the DNA of those convicted or arrested for crimes worked then? Who would have thought that if you had a targeted approach to collecting or retaining DNA, rather than an indiscriminate approach, it could be affective.

• Tories have pledged to erase the historic convictions of all those found guilty of consensual gay sex. This is with regard to several changes to the law over the years, yet due to that not being retroactive, there are people who have criminal records for homosexuality. This is a good idea, to tar people as a sex offender for having a consensual relationship, is just disgraceful. Though I don't imagine it being a large amount of people, it's the right, fair and just thing to do for them. I at last give my full support to a Tory policy.
  

• Jack Straw will face the mother of Gary McKinnon as she stands as a candidate for his Blackburn seat. She's wants to protest against Labour's erosion of civil liberties and the extradition treaty with the US. Good luck to Janis Sharp, though I don't imagine for a moment she will win, it will lead to some very uncomfortable moments for Jack Straw. Priceless.
  

Lastly, there were a lot of pledges in theory, smiles, staged photo shoots and "we will consider that" responses from the party leaders. Nothing new, other this pushing of the political wife into the limelight. Which has been nauseating.

Political Posters and Slogans So Far - Part 1

What delightful campaign posters from the Tories and Labour to date. In fact so much so I thought I'd take a look them.

• Labour's two face Cameron poster

So off camera Cameron has an even bigger forehead than a Ferengi. Worse still the man is plotting to scrap our right to see a cancer specialist within two weeks. Not something he's put into his manifesto, given the slogan does translate to - the Tories want to kill you - perhaps I'm looking at the wrong section, maybe it's the under reducing the population chapter?

Verdict - Bit rich from Labour, I don't know anyone that hasn't been on waiting lists longer than 2 weeks to see an actual Doctor. A "right" is not a word I would use, "luck" would be more accurate. Hypocritical at best.

• Labours election campaign slogan

"A Future Fair for All"

This slogan was announced along with a speech about knowing that they are inept, but the Tories won't let everyone ride on the roller-coaster at the forthcoming fair. Though given inequality has increased under a Labour government, perhaps they mean- some futures are fairer than others?

Verdict - Gimmicky and joins the ever growing list of slogans generated by the Labour spin machine. The only use it has is allowing Brown to keep repeating his new slogan at every opportunity and like a scratch on a CD, he will. An exhausted and exhausting election technique. Give us a break.

• Conservative "I've Never Voted Tory"

Like a dirty secret you wouldn't want anyone to know, these posters act as declaration, you're not alone if you are thinking of voting scum sucking pigs Tory. Like an alcoholic Julie states it openly for the first time, while her son comforts her and daughter looks like she might vomit.

Verdict - Too manufactured, vanilla and generic. What are they for really? Tell us your plans for families Dave, she may look happy, but does she really know? Does anyone know? Do you know? What a waste of paper.

• Tories - Gordon will even tax you when you die
  

Jumped the gun with this one, as it isn't Labour policy and apparently it wasn't under consideration. But don't let facts stand in the way of scaring people with death. Gordon will steal your money when you die and then bury you in an unmarked grave.

Verdict -"Brown taxing everything" narrative could strike a cord with people, as it is an expression about him so often used. Yet this just fell flat on it's face, badly judged. Another waste of paper.

• What do we learn?

Tories can't communicate their message, they're walking in the dark while hitting their shins on chairs and kicking out at Labour. They really need to be clear and a lot more finely tuned in their campaign. Stop trying to be everything and just be about something.

Labour don't have a lot of money and are it playing safe. Same battle lines as they always draw, evil Tories, cuts etc. Their attack on Cameron is similar to John Major's on Blair, asking voters to question what's behind the public face. This is a good attack, though with Blair being so associated with New Labour, there is only so far they can take this without it backfiring.

Drug Advisers Resign - As Good As It Gets?

Bansky

Dr King and Marion Walker resigned today in protest over the sacking of Prof David Nutt. I'm glad they feel strongly enough about this to do so, as they're right to. Just as Alan Johnson says an advisor shouldn't step into the political field, the political field can't fly in the face of scientific research. When it gets to the point that the state is saying the earth is flat and science says it round, there is something really wrong there. Never has the phrase what is he smoking been more appropriate.

What's been nagging at me about this though, is the policy just isn't working, why keep moving things around when you could rethink the policy? Embracing the research offers the opportunity to do just that. It really annoys me as it just feels so stagnant, is this really as good as it gets? This is the best policy they have to offer to tackle drug smuggling and protect people? Moving drugs up and down the alphabet.

Wonderful, nothing like progressive policy and government. This situation highlights for me something so flawed. Rather than protecting other people, it's about protecting themselves. Suu Kyi said:

It's is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it.

Wise woman.

Alan Johnson Sacks Drugs Adviser

Alan Johnson became Alan Sugar today uttering the phase "you're fired!" at Professor David Nutt. What could he have done so badly to warrant this? He based his opinion on, dare I say it, scientific evidence before it goes through the New Labour washing machine on full spin. Alan Johnson said:

I cannot have public confusion between scientific advice and policy and have therefore lost confidence in your ability to advise me as Chair of the ACMD

No indeed, why on earth would you base policy on scientific evidence and advice? And why have people around you that would disagree, far better not to question anything, it can as this case shows, make your policy look populist and a little silly.

It's the role of the state to protect and inform, you achieve none of these points by not having an open discussion on drugs. How New Labour.

Tories Conference Policy

I've been following the Tory Conference this week, after Cameron's speech it's time to write about this Conservative utopia they speak of. In a nutshell the Tories want to tackle welfare dependency, anti-social behaviour, boost business, improve the NHS and put a cap on some immigration, which are all traditionally Tory areas. Yet there are some interesting ideas scattered among what you would expect and some bizarre ones to.

All parties are looking at the public sector to save money, Lib Dems were the first followed by Labour announcing policy just before the Tories on freezing public sector pay, I wonder what effect that had on George Obsboure's policy, as his goes much further than Labour's. It would of course be good tactics for Labour to try to create a stand off between the Tories and the unions, not so good for everyone else though if it escalates.

Policy announced that did catch my eye is their tax break for firms created in the first two years of a Tory government. In principle it sounds a good idea, employees are companies biggest financial burden, thus take some of the burden away and make people easier to employ. Also tackling the state pension, this has to be addressed at some point, people are living longer combined with the cost of living having gone up. I would have preferred to have seen some policy that supports people in taking out a private pension though, as that's really the way out of this. Otherwise their could end up a bigger divide between those who could take out a pension and those that couldn't.

Their education policy i.e Troops to Teachers programme falls into the bizarre category, send the troops into schools? How sane, reasonable and not at all gimmicky. Though I'm not really taken with their education policy in general, not only does Michael Gove look like the Child Catcher but his policy is a little child hating to. Yet in fairness just getting politicians noses out of the curriculum would probably be enough to improve the standard of education.

Tory foreign policy looks like just Labours, only difference is the Tories might listen to people rather than just keep doing the same thing. As unlike Labour they've not committed themselves to a course of action. I am disappointed though with Hague on this point and concerned about his little EU fixation, by that I mean his deep, heartfelt hatred for the EU.

Cameron's speech itself was quite pointed in places, I felt he identified the problems with Labour well, perhaps however a little too well. Everything was so calculated and Thatcher like, I even thought at one point he was channelling her. Yet what Cameron does have working in his favour is continuity, unlike Blair he's not just telling one person one thing and another something completely different, while doing whatever he likes and smiling like a manic. Cameron does have a vision, I wouldn't describe it as utopian, yet I can think of far worst.



Update - You can read Cameron's full speech here.

Conservative Party Conference

As the Tories kick off their jolly good conference from Manchester, raise your port filled glasses to what could be an interesting conference. As Labour shreds itself up like a copy of the Sun newspaper and throws itself on the floor of media martyrdom, this leaves room for David Cameron to show he isn't just Tony Blair in a blue tie.

I'm hoping to see some substance, rather than just strategy and tactics from the Tories. Essentially I want to see the difference between winning the election and Labour just loosing it. Particularly since the Tories look to be the next government.

Lib Dems Conference Policy

As the Lib Dems Conference in Bournemouth draws to a close, the sun setting on the sandcastles and empty pint glasses. What has the conference to offer the voter rather than a party member? I've been following with an interest in what policy the Lib Dems are taking into this election and there are several points that have caught my eye.

• Tuition fees - This has always been a dividing line with the Lib Dems, yet given public worry over government spending Clegg will never be able to justify where the money will come from, he's right put this on hold. I want university to be available to anyone, yet it's impossible to fund the amount of people now attending. So I would rather see a fairer system in place, one that helps students, not penalise them.
  

• Economic Policy - Vince Cable laid out plans to freeze public sector pay, pensions and limit tax credits for the middle classes. He's also not ruling out like the other parties raising taxes. He's right to look at public sector pay as it's a large government burden, for example 70% of the health budget goes on pay. Labour have been incredibly relaxed in this area simply for not wanting to clash with the unions. But the debt has to be paid back, whether this is the way though I'm not sure yet, I'll hear all the parties out first.
  

• Ban/curb airbrushed photos - This is on adverts targeted at children, also having warnings on images that indicate the digital retouching done for adults. I'm glad this issue was raised, yet banning is not something I expect from the Lib Dems, in fact banning is not something I expect in general. Yet given how exploitative advertising has become, perhaps education on the realities of advertising i.e in a boarder capacity would be more of benefit. I don't see warnings really working practically, as all images go though a digital process these days, it could end up like a cigarette packet, just a warning message.
  

• EU president Blair - Those wonderful Lib Dems voted not to support his candidacy until an inquiry had established his role in torture and Iraq. This has my complete support, I'm so glad they're keeping the pressure on the government over this. The only thing worst than President Blair is making him "peace keeper" of the Middle East. Which isn't at all like putting a pyromaniac in charge of the Fire Brigade.

• Britain's libel laws - Lib Dems are the only party so far to really bring this up and want to readdress the crazy libel tourism our laws currently cater to. There have been a few references on the web to the Tories being interested in this policy, it will be interesting to see just how pro big business the Tories are.
  

• Reform - Consisting of localisation, electoral reform, party funding and giving parliament greater power. The big difference between the Tories on this point is devolution, Lib Dems support devolving greater power. Vince Cable said he thought London was on a "collision course" with Edinburgh, I think he spot on with that. I certainly like that the devolution of power won't be just for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but they propose to address the democratic deficit in England to.
  

Overall it was a really mixed bag from the Lib Dems, pulling together all these strands to make a clear, defined narrative is going to be difficult for Nick Clegg. Particularly with an overlap in areas with the Tories. Clegg needs to find a way to make that message his own or it will be used as a stick to beat them with. His strongest asset is Vince Cable, at a time when few politicians are respected Vince* has managed to remain above it all. Clegg also needs to grow some sharp teeth and bite back or he will never be heard. Leaving this election just about David Cameron and how badly Labour will loose


*We're on a first name bases.