Manifestos out but do the puplic know the parties policies

So all the Manifestos have now been released. Manifestos are naturally used as a PR stunt. but of course the pledges are important.

I found the Labour manifesto and Conservative manifesto a bit to wordy with large layout. The Lib Dem manifesto I thought was laid out better using short boxes for each point.

As far as the launches went I though David Cameron speech was perhaps the best one. As his big society (big idea) is in principal something I think many people would agree with. I don't agree with some of the methods in getting there however. For example im concerned that pushy parents may setup schools which could undermine the professional judgement of teachers with there demands. Im also unsure about the amount of power being taken away from local council over the referendum idea. I think councils need more power and more of their money back as proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Councils have already lost too much power under the current centralising government. Also why do LAbour and the Tories not put more figures into there manifesto.

I thought the Labour conference launch was the least interesting of the 3 main parties, there clearly running out of ideas, they had some but not as many as the other two main parties. I also thought Nick Clegg did well during his speech during the Liberal Democrat manifesto launch. I think he is improving quickly and growing in confidence after his bad performance on the Politics Show. All these interviews I think has improved Nick Cleggs answers.

The worrying thing is that despite the constant news coverage of the party policies alot of people still don't know what the policies of the parties are. Today John Pienaar asked some members of the public which policy was related to which party.

John Pienaar asked who was proposing to not increase NI, Most people said it was Labour and one said it was the Lib Dems when it is infact the Tories. The question was asked which party is raising the income tax allowance to £10k, most thought this was Labour only one thought it was the Lib Dems and he heard that today. When asked which party is going to make English requirement a higher standard for immigrants most thought this was a Conservative policy, It is a Labour policy. So still many members of the public do not know which party is proposing what. This perhaps is the biggest problem for all the parties and indeed the public if they vote for parties for the wrong reasons.

My Manifesto award however has to go to UKIP for their T shirts given away free stating 'Withdraw now before its too late' and for the manifesto being titled 'Sod the lot'.


Anyway If you are fed up of all this manifesto business then perhaps you can get some light relief at http://www.slapometer.com/ where you can vote with the back of your hand.

Mark Thomas Reading Show Review

On Friday 22nd January I watched the Mark Thomas Manifesto (Remember the Mark Thomas Product on Channel 4) at 21 South Street Arts Centre in Reading after reading about it on the Green Reading Blog (Mark Thomas endorses the Green Party).

The Manifesto show is about asking the audience what they would want in a People’s Manifesto. A number of ideas are offered on the night and these are voted on. For the life of me I cannot remember which policy won the Reading show, total fail. Once 50 policies are chosen (tour has now finished) then these will be published in a book and Mark Thomas will campaign on these policies.

Some of the ideas in the show included;

1. Giving Sweeney Todd’s pie shop in Reading a Michelin star.

2. Starting again with law and replacing them with out of order and Bang out of order.

3. Publishing MP’s expenses every two weeks in the local press and asking the public to sign them off.

4. Asking every one to sign if they agree with hanging and then if they do commit a crime they are then in turn hanged as they agree to it.

5. All fatty foods to only be place in very slim aisles in shops making them hard to get.

6. Allowing public access to MP’s homes as we pay for them.

7. Not allowing anyone to own a second home until everyone has a first home.

One highlight was when a cheque was handed in by the Goodbye Andrew Mackay campaign asking Andrew Mackay to pay back £170,000 for his second home claim. The point was made that Andrew Mackay MP and his wife Julie Kirkbride MP have still not paid any funds back to the tax payer for this.

Green Peace was also there asking people to sign a petition to stop the building of the Project Pegasus, which is an enriched uranium facility that will be used to manufacture uranium components for nuclear weapons.

It was a very enjoyable night and worth seeing him on his next tour, I leave you with a video clip of his show below.




Mark Thomas will have a 2nd Manifesto radio 4 show later in the year see here

And his book the Peoples Manifesto is out from 28th January.

UPDATE: I have remembered the winning policy it was Nationalizing the rail ways. Boring but practical.