More promises (empty?!).

Having feared that my hearing was going, after listening to the early evening news bulletin in which Mr Ed Milliband - referred to as the "author" of the Labour Party's Manifesto for the forthcoming General Election - was making a speech, I went to the trouble of recording that speech later on this evening, and then transcribing it. My hearing is fine! These are Mr Milliband's precise words:

“We [i.e.the Labour Party] are the reformers in politics today; we are the people with the ideas of the future; because we are the people who say we can reform our economy for the future; we are the people who can say we can reform and improve our public services; and we’re the people who say we can reform and improve our politics.”

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but is this not a wee bit like me saying that I am the smartest boy in the class, because I can say that I am cleverer than anyone else? If this is the best that the Labour Party can produce - other than promises from a Party that promised the electorate a referendum on the new European Constitution, and used a change of name in order to renege on that promise (any promise about a higher rate of income tax has never affected me, so I confess to not having taken in the detail!) - then, although I have yet to be informed as to who most of my local ('safe' Labour) constituency candidates are, I will certainly not be supporting the Labour Party candidate who is standing for re-election.

An assurance that Labour will "rebuild the economy" also seems a bit rich coming from the Party, and the Chancellor, responsible for ensuring that this country was one of the worst-prepared for the global economic downturn. As an annual visitor to the "near-continent", I have watched the value of my pound sterling drop dramatically over the past three years. It was only three years ago that I could obtain €1.48 to my £1 from any High Street Currency Exchange shop. Now, I would be doing quite well if I could receive €1.10 - a drop of more than 25%. This, of course, doesn't only affect my holiday currency, but also things like the price of fuel at the pumps, with its knock-on effect on the price of goods in the shops.

However, it is in the realm of ethics, morality, and equality, that the government of the past 13 years has fallen down hardest. The raft of anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-family, legislation has been unprecedented. The hypocrisy of members - mostly from the Labour benches - who voted in favour of all of us being fingerprinted for ID cards, but who appear, themselves, not to be ready to lead by example, and voluntarily take up the offer now that such cards are available; who have agreed that our children are now documented on the government's ContactPoint database, but who can get their own children "shielded" for the sake of their privacy; who voted to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, all in the name of their "privacy" of course, whilst passing laws that erode all of our privacy, is almost beyond belief!

It is my fervent hope that, whatever the final outcome of the voting on May 6th, the disastrous outgoing Labour government will be no part of the government of the U.K. for many, many years.