I had not realised.

[Kaz]

Suff I meant Kate hoping for a politician who will keep his promises once he/she is elected, versus the experience that they almost never do!

Kate, I am so sorry about poor Gus! She always seems to have such a dreadful experience with medical matters, it really is terribly unfair. Sending my very best wishes ((((((((((((((((((((x))))))))))))))))))))

[KateLMead]

Thank Kaz. It's a hard journey.xxxxx

[TheOstrich]

Farage promises the little things and it's a vote-winner. Why? Possibly because Osborne is so insistent on telling it like it is and spelling out upcoming years of misery, and many already-struggling people don't want to hear that .....

I'm not saying that Osborne is wrong in attempting to get the deficit under control, but there seems to be an intrinsic unfairness about how he is going about it.

For example, Osborne tries to ensure that the oldies will continue to vote Tory because his raft of welfare benefit cuts announced today will not hit pensioners. I'm uncomfortable, almost embarrassed about this. There are too many people who are wealthy pensioners or who are quite comfortably off, thank you, and receiving things like child benefit. There are too many people struggling on low wages or relying just on benefits who can't afford food bills. There's something wrong, unbalanced in this society today. It's one of the reasons Mrs O and I have started donating to our local food-bank. And I see no reason (even though it would hit this household) why state pension should not be frozen for 2 years along with everything else.

Whatever happened to "We're all in it together", George?

[Kaz]

Whatever happened to "We're all in it together", George?

The thing is, we never really have been, but these days the gap is widening and becoming ever more obvious

[Workingman]

Armed forces as security services? They already are. Relatively small changes in taxation which will benefit about 30% of the population? No sudden promises to spend shedloads of money. If it were Cameron saying this they'd be almost happy. If it were Miliband they'd be rolling in the streets with joy....

It is not rocket science, is it? Farage keeps coming up with these ever-so-simple vote winners. He is looking after the pennies and leaving the £s. If he carries on like this UKIP will have a lot more voters than at present come election time and, TBH, the political establishment needs a damned good shake up.

[Suff]

Suff I meant Kate hoping for a politician who will keep his promises once he/she is elected, versus the experience that they almost never do!

Go on roll your eyes.... Sorry if I took it wrong...

[shazsha]

Come May 2015 he may be the third largest party in politics, given that the Lib Dem support continues to collapse.

Slight correction here Suff. If we are talking in terms of membership the third largest party would be the SNP. Since the referendum their membership has risen from approx 25,000 to almost 75,000(in just over a week).

Personally I think Farage just says what people want to here-whether he ever implements any of his promises will be another story.

[KateLMead]

Let's hope we have a chance to find out Shaz.

[Suff]

This is true Shaz. However I was talking about seats and there are a lot of seats going begging in England right now that Labour have abused for years and Tory seats where the voters are less than amused with Cameron; ably abetted by the press who shoot him down at every opportunity.

Honestly I hope all this press bias against Cameron does produce a strong UKIP surge. Serve them right!

Even though the SNP have a stronger support base, more English voters may come out for UKIP than there are actual voters in Scotland.... Another of my little gripes....

[Kaz]

Suff I meant Kate hoping for a politician who will keep his promises once he/she is elected, versus the experience that they almost never do!

Go on roll your eyes.... Sorry if I took it wrong...

I was rolling them at the perfidy of politicians Suff