Dirty Election

2010-04-12T11:07:00+01:00

It looks like it's shaping up to be a very dirty election. The latest scare tactic involving cancer treatment also raised question about how the leaflets were targeted. The Labour party seem to be working very hard to promote the image of posh Tories waxing their moustaches between looking for puppies to kick. Health care is such a hot potato topic that all the parties have "protected" funding for the NHS but the accusation still stands that after kicking all those puppies Conservative politicians like nothing better than screwing over cancer patients.

The reality is less of a cartoon caricature. The Conservatives are looking to abolish a large number of the central targets because they question their effectiveness. I've seen myself how the organisation games the system to meet targets without effectively meeting the needs of the patient. But of course we are asked accept that Labour know how to improve the NHS despite having had the last 13 years to do so.

I'm also finding the arguments about public spending cuts more than a little weak. Our total spending is around £620bn and we are having slanging matches between the parties about £6bn to pay for Tory NI proposals. That's less than 1% of total spending and well within the sort of efficiency savings the private sector regularly asks it employees to make. I know from personal experience that over the last year or so the private sector has been busy making those savings, quite often at the cost of jobs. When I heard someone of the radio suggesting that in that case the private sector could save a little more to cover the cost of the NI increase I had to hold myself back from shouting at the radio. While I like having public services and have a lot of respect for people that work in them it doesn't give them a blank cheque to carry on as normal while the rest of us have to tighten our belts. I suspect I'll be turning into Victor Meldrew by the end of it all.

Who got all the laughs

2010-03-30T10:57:00+01:00

As debates go the whole thing seemed more than a little sterile. The 3 would-be holders of the purse strings post election kept their points so tightly focused it almost had the air of people running through checklists. Although there was a little back and forth between the candidates, usually totally unrelated to the actual question asked, the debate was cut off quickly by the moderator. I'm not blaming the moderator as the rules agreed by all the parties are pretty specific on the format.

I'm not sure if the rules for the chancellors debate precluded the audience from applauding and cheering but it only happened a few times over the whole hour. Vince Cable's robust performance certainly got the most positive audience reaction. If this was against the rules then maybe there is hope for a more lively audience come the main events when the leaders go head to head.

Next time I'll be watching with my social media feeds on as I suspect that's where the real cheering and jeering will be taking place.

Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - tax

Dirty Election

Who got all the laughs