On principle and stuff I abhore Cameron, but I can't say life under him has been particularly any worse or better. Maybe that's cos he hasn't done anything.

Pre-1993 Labour were good, post-1993 they lost there way and it was open warfare between Blair and Brown, that is not conducive to effect government.

Pre-1993? When they were in opposition? This is a day to put in the diary, Nigs. I agree with you!

I'm confused by your view that he hasn't done anything, SYnapse. The move in employment from public to private sector has been huge. The return treating parliament with respect regarding international policy has been most welcome. Their economic policy has mostly been working (although I doubt Labour's would have been much different in reality). The move closer to a real debate on Europe has been good too.

And although you don't hear words like "big society" spoken in the media anymore these days, the focus on giving more power to local communities has really made a lot of progress.

Their economic policy is non-existent as far as I can see just let the market do it's thing.

As for a debate on Europe who does that help?

Cameron and the conservatives are truly appalling. The labour party aren't great either, and Blair was a war-mongering, lying, sleazy piece of shit. However, I do believe that we'd have been better off with Labour in the same way that i'd prefer to be punched in the head than have my head smashed in with a baseball bat.

Sorry - Pre & Post 2003

To do nothing is a legitimate policy, although they have done more than that. Red tape has had genuine cuts, government spending has had its cuts in more or less the right places, and they speed of cuts has been eased off when things weren't looking too great (although the spin of both parties pretends that never happened).

The debate on Europe is a big help for all of those who feel that their views have been ignored. There is a large anger at Europe because of this that helps no one except those who campaign on a "Europe is the route of all evil" basis. For the first time ever we will have a real debate on our future in Europe, the good that Europe does will get a genuine airing from supporters across the spectrum, and (assuming we vote to stay in) we'll be able for once to persue a strong British policy in Europe without our politicians jumping at shadows every 5 minutes.

...crossing out "I agree with Nigs" from my diary :(

"To do nothing is a legitimate policy" - Tories

Have you never done nothing with great success in a game of Diplomacy?

To do nothing in economic terms is a disaster, and I don't want to start an economic debate here but; the role of government is to protect stability and welfare not to generate a profit.

1998 - Every single Tory MP voted against the National Minimum Wage

David Cameron is a millionaire (estimated to be worth over £30 million!) and is from an extremely wealthy family, he never has and never will have to experience the sort of work British people do for the national minimum wage. Like most Tories, he is out of touch with the British public.

Really? In what sense?

In the sense that when questioned he could not identify the prices of bread and milk to the nearest pound?

Which of course makes all the difference. There is little more important a quality in a national leader than his in-depth knowledge of the weekly food shop.

Besides, no matter what he answers he's in trouble. 50p a loaf and 25p a pint is, as we all know, the right answer. However what does he gain by giving such an answer? Most people will assume he's wrong anyway (as everyone pays different amounts for such things and has different ideas about what's reasonable) which is worse than not knowing as it carries with an aura of dishonesty.

The election will prove to you that it does matter whether a leader knows how much his citizens pay for their amenities.

The last election proved that it didn't. If you polled voters in 2010 on which of the candidates had a better knowledge of grocery shopping it is without doubt that Cameron would have scored the lowest. Real people don't care about that. What the British public care about is whether he can run a country.

The leadership of the Left don't understand this. They are, to borrow the over-used phrase, out of touch.

You realise you're backing a dead horse? The election has already been won on the cost of living by Labour.

I'm not a Labour supporter, by the way.

Labour have successfully identified the public anger at the cost of living. They have yet to convince anyone that they can tackle the problem. If they had achieved this then they would have a huge lead in the opinion polls. That they do not speaks volumes.

Do you know how long it's been since a party returned to power after only one term in opposition?