http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8397650.stm

It's a vote loser for all concerned I'd have thought...

Of course the conservatives can just point out where the senior labour party members are sending there children.

This smacks of labour just being desperate.

I don't think either side realise just how disillusioned the general public are with them... And Labour couldn't be any more desperate if they were led by someone called Dan

And that's from the Alastair Darling!! The Chancellor!! Talk about pots and kettles....how has he got the nerve to say that?!

The fact that labour nationalised the banks, when the tories said no. Recapitalised them, when the tories said no. Provided economic stimulus, when the tories said no. Asked for deregulation just before recession hit. To name a few.


I don't think labour have handled government since the Iraq war well and have let this country walk blindfolded into the midst of recession due to thier own short sightedness. Especially since 2005 they have continously disapointed by restricting freedom, badly manging the economy and government books etc however upon evaluation and comparitive analysis of the tory policy Iwould personally conclude that the actions cameron would have taken in the recession would have been depression causing and utterly consevative, plus the given probability that what labour have done badly the tories would hae done worse.

I don't believe that the labour government are competent enough to govern, but by comparison to their alternative I'm not highly overwhelmed by them either. But on value basis this country does require a new government in the short term, but long term something needs to be done about the wearing effect that the media has had that has created the millibland politicians you see today and reinstate some that have greater core values and don't just apeal to the middle.

The milliblands to me seem like the future politicians who are satisfatory enough for the job, boring/neutral enough to not be destroyed by the media and boring/self controlled enough not to be corrupt.

Politicians often fall to three things in the short term:
corruption
incompetence
bad luck

Bottom line is that some politicians are good at thier job but corrupt to an extent (ie blunket), some are incompetent (ie clarke), some are unlucky (ie reid)

I also thinks it is barely possible to govern when every departmental screw up that is more than likely nothing to do with you requires you to step down.

What labour has done to the banks is very, very, very far from nationalisation. In fact it could even be said what they've done has many of the disadvantages of nationalisation but next to none of the advantages.

It should also be noted that the regulatory authority that singularly failed to regulate the banks to prevent the credit crunch was a labour invention. A Gordon Brown invention, in fact.

Jon

Labour "Provided economic stimulus" - you mean the money they ploughed into making even more public sector jobs, encouraging people to buy cheap Korean cars with the scrappage scheme.

Where was the stimulus for the private sector - the part of the economy that actually generates wealth for the country?

The problem with politicians is that most of them have never held a job in the private sector - they've lived in cloud-cuckoo land...sorry, politics...since they left school and have no idea how to run the country.

I think it's about time we scrapped political parties and had a Government who's one and only task is to run the country in the most efficient and effective way. Policies should be there for a reason, not because they fit in with someone's political leaning. We should think of this country as one big company - it needs to make a profit or it'll end up bankrupt.

Cam-moron is of course the epitome of politeness and sweet reason......

The specific point was a joke, and quite a clever one. Many of Cameroon's mates\Shadow Cabinet are his ex-Etonion pals. Its not class warefare, its simply a fact. Given that the only genuine "policy" they've admitted to is raising the threshold of Inheritance Tax to £2M (hands up anyone here that will benefit?) its hard not to conclude they're playing "class" politucs themselves.

Anyway no need to worry. The Toffs will be in power soon enough and history will tell.
Interesting how shabby the "Sainted Margaret"'s reputation has started to look of late, isn't it?

Raises Hand - I live in the SE and the cost of an average family home in a nice area easily tops the current £325K level. Throw in same savings etc and you are there

That's actually quite a lot of savings you'd need.