Pledge generator, Chancellors Debate

Pledge Generator

I just saw the chancellors debate, it does explain why people are so bored with politics. The big 3 parties are just so similar, can there really be no other option that them? Of course there are other options, there are other parties, but you wouldn't know it watching the debate.

All 3 big parties talk up the size of the debt and how they are the ones who can do the most cutting. They forget that our debt is not at historically high levels, and is not exceptional compared to other countries. Clearly some things can be easily cut, Trident, ID cards, and more. But we need far more investment in other things, like insulating our houses, this is not on their agenda.

Partly they are attempting to triangulate, one party says we need to cut and it gives them a boost, so the others chase them into a spin. One party says cut inheritance tax, so they all do it.

The LibDems think Vince should be a saint, they may have forgotten he has to die first. And his reputation is based on some falsehood, which he admits to. He warned about debt, as did many others, but he wanted the banks to merge and become ever bigger. He didn't warn about the US mortgage market which he admits was the trigger. One might have expected Cable the 'political prophet' to have been arguing consistently for better, firmer and stronger regulation of the City. On the contrary, "No one," he said, "is arguing for an increasingly severe, more onerous and dirigiste system of regulation." Cable was a prominent contributor in 2004 to the Lib Dems' pro-market Orange Book, which advocated introducing a US-style private health insurance scheme to replace the National Health Service.

Cable did a two-year spell as chief economist for the oil giant Shell in the mid-1990s. Mark Lynas, who interviewed Cable when he worked at Shell, remembers him as being deeply evasive and avoiding all questions about Saro-WiwaKen (who with eight others was executed by the military government). Lynas is astonished at Cable's transformation into Britain's favourite politician. "I don't know how anyone could have stayed at Shell during that period and slept at night," he told me. "Because of Shell, I've always questioned his judgement on human rights."

Not that Osbourne is any better, he is seen as the weak link in Camerons tram. I would have preferred to see Ken Clarke at the debate, he performs well on TV.

But not all parties are chasing the same focus groups, the Greens have long term policies that do not change each week. Our policies are decided democratically by our members at conference, after a debate. The other parties stopped doing this decades ago, its too slow for them, they just chase the headline. So no mention of the Robin Hood Tax, or indeed just raising income tax, that would be a bit to 'raw' a policy for these 3 spinners.

Now I have no time for the policies of Ukip, but to be fair to them they, they along with us, Plaid Cymru & the SNP should be part of this debate. All these parties have proved that a section of society supports them, as have the Greens. So what sort of democracy is it that leaves out so many people? One that is loosing the support of the country. This is the time for the 'minor' parties, not for more of the same stuff that made this mess.