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Down on projections. Expenditure continues to rise although we'll have to wait and see what impact new cuts have on closing the gap. I tend to think also that any party in power would have seen a recovery. I think it has less to do with Colaition policy and more to do with the natural rebound after a major crash. The real test will be to see if living standards increase over the next five years and if that gap can close without massive pain. The Tories promised a lot of givaways as well in their manifesto.

Except the Labour party was formed with the alliance of unions representing ordinary working people. And unions still have an important role to play. I personally don't have any issue with that. But I do agree with the identity crisis that Labour currently has Otta. Miliband failed to read the mood of the country and took far too long into his leadership to provide any kind of opposition. The Tories had a good two years of getting their skewed core message out, unchallenged, at the start. By the time Miliband started to respond, it was too late to change that. People genuinely think Labour ruined the economy! I do also think that the Tories did a great job of striking fear into people regarding the SNP, and they did it in a way that also took the bite out of UKIP. *crossed posts otta but I think we are on the same page*

So ????, tell us just where the growth actually is in the economy? It's not rocket science. Borrowing is up since 2010. Tax receipts are down. Exports down and productivity too. Oh I know, the 2 million new jobs? But you see, I just can;t balance that with tax receipts being down somehow.

I think you have to be in America too, to have any chance of going to the mothership ;D

Yes I think there is an irony Tillie in that we happily give benefit money to landlords to pay their mortgages but don't help those with mortgages themselves who fall on hard times. It's a complex thing to balance. But instead of having a sensible debate about it (I'm talking about politicians here) we engage in the politics of envy to justify hitting people as hard as possible. There has to be a better way to sort all of these things out than we have at the moment. We could start with some honesty from our press and politicians.

The cat's protection league also have foster homes. Good luck in finding a place for him.

Your story Tony is not an isolated one, and you illustrate perfectly the reality for people like you and others who are being left in an impossible situation by a party whose only goal is to deny benefits to as many people as possible, and to make it as hard as possible for others to claim. Instead of the ususal nonsense of left vs right etc and media etc dicussed above, your story are the issues we should be discussing. I don't care personally which party is in power as long as they deliver a fair society. But the tories have painted people like you as feckless, lazy, idle and as having lots of disposable income on your meagre benefits for things like booze, fags and HD televisions! The demonisation of the poorest has perhaps been the Coalitions greatest success. The system is not designed to help people back into work, only to penalise as many people as possible so they can cut the cost. This is the real impact of Tory policy folks. Otta somewhere talked about how there is nothing left to cut in his job, but his job. And more cuts are coming. It is deeply affecting the lives, and livihoods of many people. Meanwhile nothing is growing on the economy at all. Tax receipts down, productivity down, exports down, borrowing up since 2010. The coalition haven't saved the economy at all, and when interests rates go up, as they will have to at some point, the shit really is going to hit the fan.

Cars don't display tax discs any more James. The only way to check tax now is on the dvla database.

"SO no one can make comment about homosexuals now is that what your trying to say." Can you read english Tarot? It's not that you comment on homosexuality, it's that you come out with stupid nonsense like children being at risk if they see a gay character in a soap ffs. If you want to write backwards tripe like that in a public forum, then don't be suprised if people ask you to prove it. Instead you waste everyone's time by conveniently ignoring the stuff you write and playing the victim instead.

It's just too depressing. There's even talk now of Cameron getting a small majority, which would be just a disaster for the poorest, and most vulnerable. Massive cuts to come. Front line services starved of funding. It's back to the 80's.

If the van has a valid MOT, insurance and Tax James, there's nothing you can do to remove it if someone claims ownership. Easy to check it's status online fromthe number plate.

Here's a constructive comment for you James. As mako above points out, to say that nothing has happend for decades to reduce accidents (in any context you care to choose) is just plain nonsense. Road accidents have been falling for decades, as have the deaths from house fires, as have the deaths from a multitude of sectors because of the work done to reduce them. Show some perspective at least.

Thank you for correcting Louisa's poor version of electoral history brandnewguy. I also tend to think that first past the post and democracy are a contradiction in terms. A truly democratic system would reflect voting proportions surely? If you want to lead with a majority, shouldn't you be there because the majority of those who voted, voted for you? Seems ridiculous to me that any party should be in power with just 33% of the popular vote.

But all this scaremongering about Labour is just that, scaremongering. There's actually not much difference between Labour and the Conservatives when it comes to fiscal economics. Both are totally avoiding the same looming problems, for example, of growing proportions of over 65s and the costs that come with it, to name but one. Everything else is just tinkering. One wants to take more tax from the top 1%, the other wants to strip the poorest 1% of the small amount of welfare they try to live on. Neither intends to tackle the housing market in any kind of meaningful way (although the Conservatives are really on a downer if they think selling off HA homes is a good idea) and neither party has any answer to wage poverty. Both parties instead will continue to subsidise landlords, and employers. We are very good at blaming parties, or sectors, or corporations, for economic catastrophe. The truth though is that it is the system that is flawed. Whilst politicians continue to fix the economy with more of the same, i.e. the very things that cause the problems, we won't get anywhere.

James Barber is an idiot, which is why I've never voted for him. Of course there is such a thing as an accident. And in a busy city, accidents are bound to happen. If I drop a glass and break it, that's an accident. Of courseIi could have held it better or gripped it harder. But these things happen. We are not perfect any more than we are totally in control of everything at all times.

Blair did the same thing miga. He engratiated himself with cool brit pop! Remember when Oasis went to a gathering at no.10? Edited to say that Brand is a smart move. Brand has 9 million twitter followers alone.

But polls in marginals are never that accurate. Remember the year John Major won? Lot's of polls put Labour ahead in marginals by a mile, but on the day it just didn't happen. That's because often, what people say in a poll and what they actually do on the day is a different thing. Many think the best indicators are the bookmakers odds. The lose money if they get it wrong. Right now they have Miliband and Cameron neck and neck, but when it comes to a coalition they put Miliband ahead. But pretty much all the analysts and polls etc are now predicting no overall majority, even with a coalition deal.

But the electoral system still favours the two biggest parties. This is why whilst UKIP are targetting 10 seats, the data analysts predict only 1 or 2 gains. On past data, the conservatives tend to do slightly better than expected and labour slighty worse than expected. So the prediction is that the conservatives will have most seats but won't be able to form a bigger coalition than labour. The SNP are going to be a huge factor in any coalition and in no terms will ally with the Tories. It's certainly an interesting time.

Panorama this week was interesting (and worth a look on iplayer). It predicts a minority labour government with UKIP getting just 1 (or was it 2) seats. And the SNP will replace the Libdems as the third largest party. It talked about shy tories too. Interesting growth figures and oh that list of small businesses that wasn't quite what it seems. Not a good couple of days for Cameron.

I completely agree rah rah. There's a lot of hypocrasy in the Conservative message.

That's really interesting henry. It's funny because listening to all the parties and their policies I have found myself in most agreement with the Green Party (whom I have never voted for) and lo and behold the survey says I have most in common with the greens, but only by 50%. Labour and the LibDems make up the rest. Just relieved to see no UKIP or Conservatives :D

Yeah I'm realising that now lol. I'm guessing Tarot has a bit of a track record?

Agreed Jeremy. Tarot's problem is that he doesn't have the intellect to engage in sensible debate. He's had plenty of opportunity to respond to opposition of his view, but has chosen not to, resorting to childish insults instead.

Gordon's flaw was his ego. He wanted to be Prime Minister really. He definitely was responsible for the ultra light regulation of the city in the UK and there were aspects of trading that were illegal in the USA but perfectly legal here. But he and the Labour party were never solely responsible for the global banking crash. ALL countries were guilty of poor regulation, and no-one worries about anything during the good times. The economy was starting to recover when the last election took place as well. Something that Labour have failed to get accross. And the Tories follow the mantra that if they tell a lie often enough, people will accept it as the truth. It may have worked on the economy but Cameron is fooling no-one on welfare, food banks and housing I think.

Hmm what point did we miss exactly. All those gay storylines before the watershed put children at risk according to you. You are truly stupid Tarot