Well done Mr. Cameron!!

I could not agree more. You said it far better then I could. I would like to add that the vote for me I am not Brown mantra is growing old too. Substance is what we need, not crumbs from politicians. The crumbs aren't coming just from the Conservatives, they are being thrown at the public by all the parties. I want the Conservatives to win. I want change, but I want real change.

yes

'What do voters want at the moment? A party that will avoid risky reforms or a party that will fix things? ' Fix things please. I can only speak for myself but that is my wish. Not just the economy, but the trust issues also. People have lost trust in their government this is true due to the expenses scandal among other things, but equally the government of the day has shown it's distrust of the people with it's nanny state. This is a crazy situation and I do not believe things will be fixed until both sides of that coin are repaired. It is difficult to know where any party actually stands on these things since they seem to be speaking mostly about the economy at the moment. I want change but I want real solid tangible change.

It seems to me that had he taken the rise he would have had equally critical comments towards him. You absolutely cannot please some people. And for everyone talking about his wealth and the wealth of his wife, does that mean anyone with money should never be allowed to run for political office? I am neither wealthy or a member of the conservative party. I am just another undecided voter who is a little annoyed with the constant negative comments about everything and anything.

Steve Foley said... At the coming General Election I will be working for and voting Blue. Any other political colour is irrelevant to me. Agreed. If I wanted to vote Green I'd vote Green. I intend to vote Blue. I certainly don't want to vote cyan! It's getting harder and harder for me to tell the parties apart. I care about the environment. We all should even if there were plenty of oil, with or without global warming, manmade or otherwise. I'll recycle regardless. I did so before Al Gore made his movie. But I do not buy into the fear that's being peddled to the entire earth.

I also agree with Tim. And I think some people too quickly forget he has a perfect right to his own opinion. Just as we all do. When this party is full of nothing but yes men and women, then we should worry.

What I want to know is why anyone thinks Europe will renegotiate anything with the UK.

As someone living in an area where not one of the Conservative candidates on the short list are local, I find this far more of an issue then if the person is male or female.

I felt the speech was good. I know some are disappointed he didn't touch on this or that subject but I was happy to see that he mentioned a few that I didn't think he would. I know it's only words, but I have never expected miracles from men anyways. I also felt Liam Fox's speech was a good speech and I was happy to see he at least mentioned the civilian personnel that go to the front line with the military. Perhaps there is hope in the cuts in the MOD for these people's jobs.

Rediculous. I am bored of these people questioning David Cameron's worth especially when they are also being payed by the tax payers and being payed far more every year then politicians. I am also bored to death with the grilling in the press of the Conservative party regarding the Lisbon Treaty. Who is grilling the government on Lisbon? As far as I am aware they are the only ones that can change things NOW. Yet they will not and I guess the press finds that perfectly acceptable.....It is more then obvious the press do not give a monkeys about these things and only bring them up so they can tar the opposition. Why?

Any clue when we will get clarification of who will get the axe in the civil service? And for those saying the CS is full of sludge, there is pleny of non sludge in their too who are worried about their jobs. Parts of the MOD fall under Whitehall and the fact military spending hasn't been ring fenced is very worrying.

This is my constituency and sad to see no one who actually lives here is in the running. Though I agree with what others have said and hope for Colonel Bob. At least he is military and there is hope he understands the needs and worries of the people of this area. Though there are plenty of non military people in this area too so I'll just hope for someone dedicated.

I agree ollie, there shouldn't be worry about 'ganging up'. Being born in a country where TV debates are common, ganging up and not answering the questions doesn't usually go down well with the public. I wouldn't mind Clegg and whomever else there too though having more people means fewer questions can be answered. As long as Cameron keeps his own integrity and answers the questions the public really want answers to there's no worry. That's the whole point, a chance to judge them on something more solid then soundbites and speculation. Or at least that should be the point. I hope to goodness it's not at all like PMQ's (though I do enjoy watching it). If I hear 'the do nothing party' line once more I may very well scream. :P

Some pretty good questions this time around :)

"eugene said... I expect Conservatives to be be clever in this and cut where it will hardly be noticed and raise taxes only in the most serious of circumstances." I truely hope you are right eugene.

The story about online patient records was indeed a high impact story at least for me though for the wrong reasons. However I still rated it high impact. As Mayor of Philadephia said with the Grayling Wire story, it doesn't mean said high impact story was a good idea.

I agree Scott. I have watched report after report of the state of things in Afghanistan currently. One small hospital for 1 million people. Women and children living on 3 meals of tea a day. The stories are heart breaking especially when you consider we've been there for years. I am not saying WE have caused these things to happen, but we are definately not changing lives or not changing them fast enough for sure. There is talk of spending another 40 years there. I will not say if I support the war or not, mostly because I no longer know myself but as always I support the soldiers doing their jobs wherever that may be. But 40 more years of things as they are now with no real change for these people is something I cannot bare to thing of. So I agree with you, we (or someone else) must rebuild and by rebuild I don't mean McDonalds, strip malls and amusement parks.

Short of coming off the natural grid completely which I cannot afford to do, I do not have faith that my energy bills will go down no matter how many green government loans and grants I apply for. Not to mention the fact that I really do not want a loan. As bill says at 12:26, we would no doubt be taxed for the improvements. I care about the environment. Long before it became popular to care. But yesterday I read that divorce of all things, causes global warming, adding to the list of other causes of global warming, overweight people, google, etc. Where were all of these green people when Swampy the eco-warrior was up in his tree caring about the environment? I agree with reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy, an end to garden grabbing, and honest food labeling. I do not know what the word quangocracy means :( I would rather see better and greener public transportation with affordable fares.

I'm with Allan :) Free spirit here.

I'm sorry I also disagree with you Jack. It's nice to know that a few politicians from all parties talk about the things DD talks about but it saddens me a bit that none of them are in a possition to make any real difference. If David Davis were in a possition to make a real stand on civil liberties I for one would sign up to a life time membership of the Conservative party. I find it interesting that Rebel states that DD is old school because though I think he is right, I guess I never considered what that meant before. When I first took notice of DD I had recently left the Labour party. Me, the bleeding heart liberal as we say in the states or something I have been accused of also the 'closet liberal'. Whatever, labels stink for the most part and it's interesting that the new caring sharing parties seem somehow less human at times then the old school. Strange hu? But then again, maybe I have learned to look beyond the words politicians speak. Anyway, I hope the article written above isn't an apology for anything you've written on this site Tim. I think you do a great job and I am glad that you step up with your own opinions. How else can we learn from other peoples ideas and perhaps grow in our ways of thinking? If sometimes that is uncomfortable for some, then that's a good thing so long as it's for the right reasons. P.S. I also don't agree that we can just up and leave Afghanistan however. We are there now and I'm not sure what steps come next but just leaving isn't going to make things better.

I also like the shoestring manifesto ideas. One thing that I think is missing is community. I noticed an article today saying councils will pay people £500 to spy on their neighbors. So now people will profit from being suspicious and untrusting of those in their community. I was touched by the speech Baroness Warsi gave at the convention last year and some of the community groups that were a focus at the convention were quite inspiring. Surely a strong community spirit where the focus is on neighbors helping each other is more benficial for a healthy society.

I've been thinking about your question throughout the day. Surely we can't as a society believe that things can never change for the better. I know many people say all the parties are the same but we've got to put our trust somewhere don't we? Since I'm not really the pitch fork carrying sort I suppose my glass is half full and will remain that way until proven otherwise.

That's a valid point Treacle. And I'm not really sure what my answer would be. Something to think about.....

As a parent these are the things I would do if I were told my kids had been verbally abusive to shopkeepers etc. It's a shame not all kids are reprimanded at home but it's a sad fact that many are not punished in any way. You'd have no complaints from me if a police officer were to take my sons phone card due to his poor behaviour in public so long as there are clear guidelines for what is and isn't permited. For instance I wouldn't approve if they were punished because someone didn't like the look of them, or based only on assumptions of a bad attitude, it would have to be a clear breach of behaviour. I for one think it is a brilliant idea.