So, the important question: will the Greens win Brighton Pavilion?

(And the more important question: why do UKanians tolerate an electoral system which is so blatantly unfair?)

Well it appears that My local MP (Tory) is one of only 9 who have signed to the "get the UK out of the EU now" Is one of only three who managed to score a 0 in stonewalls  recent analysis of voting records (alongside Anne Widdicome) managed to  vote for the abortion limit to be brought down to 12 weeks has been campaigning on the banning of Islamic dress and wants cuts in out of control immigration (but isn't a racist).

Oh and  "measures to strengthen families" taken from his election literature hardly sound the most progressive thing in the world.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The tantalising possibility is that of a hung parliament, because that is the best chance of effecting changes to the electoral system.

The reality is that the Ashcroft money is pouring into the marginals... and that will probably work...

Debillitated

1 Digital Economy Bill debate

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Times Higher Education - Clear preference for Clegg in poll

THE's general election survey shows the Lib Dems taking an early lead. John Morgan writes

As the nation prepares for a general election on 6 May, a Times Higher Education poll suggests that the Liberal Democrats may be winning the battle for the academy's votes.

In our voteHE online survey, 40 per cent of respondents say that they intend to vote Lib Dem, putting Nick Clegg's party ahead of Labour (33 per cent) and the Conservatives (15 per cent).

Other options, including not voting, are supported by 11 per cent of respondents.

The Lib Dems won even more support when readers were asked which party's higher education policies were best. Nearly half (49 per cent) went for the Lib Dems, 26 per cent for Labour and 14 per cent for the Tories.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Eagle Eye - Michael Savage: As Cameron's poll lead widens, so does his credibility gap. But can you blame him?

Here's a curious thing. When the Tories were giving away few details about their policies a while back, and we all clammered for them to come clean, they were over the hill and far away in the polls.

Then when the recession hit, they came up with the austerity plan, when they admitted (finally) that things would be tough and cuts would have to be made. It culminated in the most downbeat and tough speech made by a shadow Chancellor for some time. What happened? The polls narrowed. We knew more, and we didn't like it. And Labour used it to show the Tories were a nasty lot, intent on wrecking the recovery. Unsurprisingly, this didn't go unnoticed by the Tory leadership. What was the result? An optimistic promise to voters - they would cancel most of Labour's planned national insurance rise. A tax cut. Hurrah.

One problem - the pledge has left them with a major credibility gap. Already struggling to explain their determination to cut faster and deeper than Labour, they now had to find an additional £6bn - which they have done through claiming to find more of those wonderful things, efficiency savings.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

No matter who wins it will be male person. So much for sex equality. Anyway the winner should commit UK to end the shameful wars which Mr Blair had started. By the way Blair also secured the Olympics in London and it is unbecoming for the host nation to be engaged in two bloody military campaigns (though in one conflict, Iraq, it's just scores of civilians who continue to die almost daily) in contradiction to Olympics movement charter [which says that Olympics should be "promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity"]. If not, the Beijing Olympics relay torch - style protests may be organized and countries will be urged to boycott the games.

This Much I Know - » The Conservative iPhone app and the DPA

I'm an iPhone app developer. I'm interested in new apps that do interesting things. I also have an interest in data privacy. So when I heard that the Conservative Party had launched an app with a canvassing feature, I thought I should try it out.

Call A Friend

Here's how it works. Imagine that a Conservative voter - let's call him Peter - wants to campaign on behalf of the Conservative Party. He installs their app, and taps the "Call a friend" button. He sees some brief instructions, and taps "Continue".

<snip>

This Much I Know - » The Conservative iPhone app and the DPA

Consent

I read more. In order to process someone's personal data, you must meet at least one of several conditions. For this app, it looks as though the relevant condition is that Bob has given "consent to the processing".

However, the app doesn't ask Bob for his permission at all, let alone check whether he has given his consent. The app doesn't even ask Peter if consent was given, and doesn't provide any guidance as to how Peter should approach Bob when he calls. By the looks of it, it is entirely Peter's choice as to whether he even mentions the fact that Bob's data will be sent on.

Summary

So what does this all mean?  Well, if my understanding of the DPA is correct:

• It's possible that personal data is being stored or processed by the Conservative Party, without them having any contact with the person whose data is being processed
• There is no verification that the data is provided with the consent of the person that data refers to
• The app doesn't give a clear indication of what the data will be used for
• Neither the app nor its supporting web sites contain a privacy notice describing how the data may be stored and used

I should stress that I don't know if or how the Conservative Party are storing or processing the data from these emails (although I have contacted them to find out, and will post again when I hear back). I would be very grateful if anyone with experience of the Data Protection Act could confirm if my reading of the Act is correct.

Ooooops

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

MORTON'S FORK 2010: The morning after the trite before - Chicken Yoghurt

I woke this morning with a palpable sense of relief that it had all been a dream. A very long, exceedingly dull yet febrile dream. But I see with dismay that yes, the general election really is all happening...

Only the British can combine the raw materials of a Queen, a prime minister, an election and a 775-room palace and from them create an occasion with all the pomp-soaked drama of a man clocking in and out of a car park.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - London UKIP election candidate in racism row

A UKIP parliamentary candidate has been reinstated after posting racist remarks on a social care website.

Paul Wiffen, who is campaigning to be MP for Ilford South in east London, responded to a criticism of the party on the Community Care site.

The remarks focused on Muslims, Romanian Gypsies and African and Caribbean communities.

UKIP said he had been suspended but, following his apology and an inquiry, he was allowed back into the party.

The comment was made in response to a post by Community Care's Outside Left blogger on asylum.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Discover how much power you have as a UK voter in your constituency

In the 2005 election, more than half of all voters voted against their winning MP.

Their votes were simply thrown away.

In the UK, the only voters with any real power to choose the government are those who live in marginal constituencies.

Less than 20% of constituencies can be considered marginal.

The rest of us have little or no power to influence the outcome of the election.

In fact, statistical analysis by the nef (the new economics foundation) shows that one person in the UK does not have one vote...

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Telegraph - How I should vote in the General Election

A fun little questionaire, obviously heavily skewed towards telegraph type issues. But I came out as practically a dead heat for Green and Lib Dem with labour a distant third.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Oi

David Cameron will tomorrow promise to deliver the most extensive devolution of power in a generation when he declares that a Conservative government would hand people "direct control" over how they are governed nationally and locally.

In a direct invitation to voters to join him in governing Britain, the Tory leader will promise in his election manifesto to offer California-style referendums on any local issue if residents can win the support of 5% of the population.

Adopting historic language from the Labour movement about the "collective strength" of society, Cameron will also pledge to let people "be your own boss" as public sector workers are allowed to assume ownership of the services they provide.

Because when you think competent governance, you think Gullyvornyah.

"Could you sign this petition to make earthquakes illegal?  They're really starting to bother me."

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Is UKIPs chairman a conspiracy to make the tories look less posh and out of touch?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Conservative manifesto at a glance | Politics | guardian.co.uk

The main points of the Tory plan for re-election as unveiled by David Cameron in London today

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

General election 2010: Labour manifesto at a glance | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Guardian correspondents explain the key points in the policies Gordon Brown hopes will help him return to Downing Street

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The Institute For Fiscal Studies - No new taxes?

The Conservatives have also signalled - although there was no reference to this in the manifesto - that they would prefer to see deficit reduction measures split 4:1 between spending cuts and tax increases, rather than the 2:1 split implied by the Government's plans. If they aim for the same overall tightening of 4.8% of national income or £70 billion in today's terms as the Government, then a 4:1 split would imply an eventual spending cut of around 3.8% of national income (£56 billion) and a tax increase of around 1.0% of national income (£14 billion). If the Government was to stick with a 2:1 ratio throughout its planned tightening, it would be looking for eventual spending cuts of 3.2% of national income (£47 billion) and tax increases of 1.6% of national income (£23 billion).

The tax increases that the Government has already announced will deliver about 1.2% of national income (£17 billion) in the medium term, suggesting that they might need to announce further tax increases worth around 0.4% of national income (£6 billion). Of the 3.2% of national income spending cut (£47 billion) they need, their plans to 'protect' (but shrink as a share of national income) non-investment spending on the NHS and part of the education budget, offset by a rise in the share of national income spent on overseas aid, would get them only a small part of the way there. We would have to wait for a Labour Spending Review to see where much of the rest fell.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

alex thomson (alextomo) on Twitter

,Election non-news - where's the deabte on the war? Afghanistan? our people, their people dying but no mention, no leadership here

All this as all reporting with British forces is banned during the election -- ForeignOffice/ Mod inspired censorship...

Which helps no end with the non-debate going on here as they appear in their buses, power stations, factories (delete as applicable)..>

No . I amnot kidding. Mod - possibloy wint Foreign Offcie connivance, have completely banned Afghan embeds during the election

MoD spinner emailed me to say when this was put to the media they didn't complain much. So I asked around.

Journos told me people went ballistic. Seems the MoD spinner was, well, just spinning, after all.

They didn't ban war reporting at end of WW2 election - but then again look at what happened to Churchill.    

(properly ordered and unpicked)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Guardian - Jonathan freedland - the Tory manifesto launch

Intersting video presentation (1:37). He is suspecting that Cameron is getting good at the presentation thing.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Channel4 are reporting that  Liam Fox and other Tory front benchers are under investigation by UK tax authorities...

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

General Election debate: Lib Dems attack David Cameron over comments on rules - Telegraph

The Liberal Democrats angrily attacked David Cameron for complaining about the detailed terms for the debate which his own officials had been instrumental in drawing up.

The Tory leader expressed concern that the tightly-controlled format would hamper free-flowing discussion and lead to a ''slow and sluggish'' programme which would leave viewers disappointed.

However the Lib Dem head of general election communications, Johnny Oates, said the Conservative negotiating team had actively sought to make the rules more restrictive.

''I think that if he had an issue about the rules being too restrictive, he should have sent a different negotiating team with a different negotiating brief,'' he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

General Election 2010: Eddie Izzard's Party Political Broadcast for the Labour Party is awfully good - Telegraph Blogs

There's no getting around this: Eddie Izzard's Party Political Broadcast for the Labour Party is masterly. I know, I know. Who cares what a celebrity thinks? But he actually deals with that point in the broadcast, pointing out he's been a Labour Party member since the mid-90s - he then goes on to diffuse the issue by making a joke about it. The whole thing is full of jokes, in fact -- good jokes, funny jokes. And it's the blend of humour and seriousness that makes it so effective.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Tory election HQ is a lot like Google | Julian Glover | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

If Google did politics, it might be something like the third floor of Millbank Tower. Behind two sets of security, in the offices where New Labour's 1997 victory was won, 300 Conservatives are now doing their best to make David Cameron prime minister. The mood is young, keen and informal; lots of daylight, lots of white paint and rows of computers and screens. It feels like the kind of place where everyone has had a gap year and everyone might buy an iPad, the optimistic end of the digital age.

Wonder how many of your staff understand the "Don't be evil" concept?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Maybe the first signs that the polls are starting to show their usual rise for the Lib/Dems.  YouGov/Sun poll: Con: 37 (-4); Lab: 31 (-1); Lib Dem: 22 (+4) A good result for Cameron tonight  will be needed or  we could see carnage and disintegrations in the campaign

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The FactCheck Blog - Cameron's Lexus takes a wrong turn?

I went to a Hull police station the other day. They had five different police cars, and they were just about to buy a £73,000 Lexus.
David Cameron, Leaders debate, 15 April 2010

Cathy Newman checks it out
Politicians like to have a go at the police for spending too much time behind a desk and not enough time pounding the streets. But last night, PC Plod got it in the neck over his choice of wheels.

During last night's TV debate, David Cameron suggested the fancy Lexus purchased by the police in Hull was a striking example of public sector waste. But was it anything of the sort?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC | BBC College of Journalism Discussion Homepage

What did last night's election debate mean for British journalism and media?

The thoughts of some of our regular bloggers are below. Please add your view in the comment box.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The Media Blog: A "first class" performance by Cameron and ITV

Pundits, journalists and news reporters tried hard to talk in professional terms about David Cameron's poor showing in the Leaders Debate last night but some critics were slightly less subtle. ITV may this morning be wishing it had read the Tweets and Facebook updates it shared with the world a little more closely (if the video* doesn't play, there are some screengrabs beneath):

(ITV have copyright blocked the video, but the screengrabs are still there.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Voter's guide to engineering a hung parliament - Channel 4 News

The leaders debates have renewed speculation about a hung parliament, so Channel 4 News thought it would be interesting to find out whether it was possible to vote for one. Independent political analyst Greg Callus reports.

A general election resulting in a hung parliament (where no single party has an overall majority of seats) is not that common in recent times. In the 20th century, only the general elections of 1910, 1923, 1929 and February 1974 failed to give any party more than half the country's MPs.

But 2010 seems like a potential candidate, if not least because since 1945 no government with a working majority has ever lost power to a different government with a working majority. Pundits and pollsters currently suggest a close finish again this year, and oddly, the public seem not to mind.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

David Cameron Anecdote Generator

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Cameron 'got it wrong'

TORY leader David Cameron got his maths and his message wrong, says the Plymouth man referred to in this week's historic televised leaders debate.

Speaking about immigration to an audience of nine million viewers, Mr Cameron said: "I was in Plymouth recently and a 40-year-old black man... said, 'I came here when I was six, I've served in the Royal Navy for 30 years. I'm incredibly proud of my country. But I'm so ashamed that we've had this out-of-control (immigration) system with people abusing it so badly'."

The man referred to was Plymouth businessman Neal Forde, aged 51.

He told The Herald that he was teased by his workmates yesterday morning.

"I don't mind. At least he took 10 years off my age," said Mr Forde.

"And he said I spent 30 years in the Navy. I was actually in for six years, as a marine engineer serving on HMS Intrepid and HMS Berwick."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Sundays polls after first  debate

ComRes for S Mirror/Independent on Sunday

Con 31 -4, Lab 27 -2, LD 29 +8 Oth 13 -2.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

UK Polling Report now showing Labour short by 39 seats to form the government.  Tory implosion coming?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

I think we need a new election thread.

keep to the Fen Causeway

YouGov:

LD 33 (+4)
Con 32 (-1)
Lab 26 (-3)

Lib-Dems still surging.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.