Tories in Tinsel

The Tory battle plan for the election as outlined by Aussie Guru (contradiction in terms) Lynton Crosby was to concentrate on five simple themes.They've forgotten what three of them were because the first two to be tried haven't worked.

First was to demolish Miliband as a useless geek.That failed because he's come through well and grown with the campaign while Cameron has got smaller and, in refusing to debate him, more cowardly. So their picture of socialist horror and Milibandish incompetence hasn't scared people off. I hear more and more people saying they think he's doing well.

Second was to hide the horror of cuts to come behind a picture of present prosperity and growthwhich  was to be attributed to the government's "long term economic plan"This isn't working too well either because recovery is better in the sSouth than the North, because its not enough to generate any "feel good" and it's only a recovery in employment to 2008 levels before the banks buggered things up. Many of the jobs are low pay casual or self employed jobs  and none of them feel particularly good or secure.

Nor can the recovery hide the shocks to come because it's based not on government investing and rebuilding the economy but on the Bank of England's cheap money policies which no one thinks will continue. Financial interests are already clamouring for a rise in interest rates which will almost certainly come after the election to nip growth in the bud and exports are failing already. So the only tangible benefits are cheaper holidays in Europe (not the US ) and the rise in house prices which may make oldies feel happier but not if they have to have their kids living with them forever.

The people aren't as daft as the Tories think. They may not be able to tell Stork from butter but they can tell the difference between a flash in the pan after five years of failure and a recovery of growth,jobs and living standards. If they can't they deserve everything that is coming to them..

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David Axelrod who advised Obama and is now advising Labour from afar before he comes in person next week writes in his new book that one of the reasons why Obama won in 2008 and Hillary Clinton lost was that Clinton campaigned for what she knew was practicable while Obama offered the hope the American people wanted.

Hope is what's missing in our BRITISH election campaign. Labour has been too cautious and responsible to offer much while everyone knows the Tories are really doom salesmen temporarily decked out in tinsel and fairyland promises.

That's a sad gap for a nation which desperately needs hope and better prospects.