The VATmen cometh

It feels like a Tory win to me. They've lost the argument but won the election.

Who to blame? Well perhaps it's a bit early for that, but I might as well get in first. It's the fault of Brown, the Labour cabinet, the banks and Clegg.

Brown for forcing out Blair and then being absolutely bloody hopeless at being a leader. Indecisive, weak and, sadly, duplicitous. The cabinet is to blame for not standing against Brown and then being too supine to take him on when things went wrong. The ambition was there because they nearly all wanted to be deputy leader, but killer instinct? No. And then they had a second chance last June when James Purnell walked out, but they ducked out of that too.

The irony of Tory-supporting bankers causing the biggest financial crisis in living memory and bringing down a Labour government is also worth noting.

And Clegg? Fresh and smart enough to cause a diversion but no substance or party to back it up when it came to the crunch. And his strong showing in the TV debates has definitely split the anti-Tory vote.

Over to you, Cameron and Osborne, your five years start tomorrow. Now, what was that you said about VAT?

Secretly blue

Just two days to go and the polls show the Conservatives with at least 34% support with Labour and the LibDems both around the 28% mark. But this ignores the 20% of people who still haven't decided where to put their crosses, so in theory it's all still to play for.

However, I don't believe that. My hunch is that some of the LibDem support will slip back to Labour and the Conservatives by Thursday, leaving them down around 22% and out of the race.

But what about the undecideds? I think there is still a stigma attached to admitting to voting Tory, at least among older people, many of whom still consider them to be what Theresa May called the nasty party. I tested this by asking my Twitter followers which of them would be voting Conservative and while only a few said openly that they would be doing so, it was striking how many DMs I received saying that they would be but they didn't want anyone else to know.

I bet this is also happening in the face-to-face polling - people are telling the polling firms that they haven't decided yet but in truth they have chosen Conservative and are ashamed to admit to people that they are going to vote for the nasty party.

It looks to me like a David Cameron victory on Thursday, and don't be surprised if it's by a wide margin.

None of the above

We're now three weeks into this election campaign and it's clear what we want. Actually, it's clear what we don't want. We don't want Tories. We don't want Labour. We don't even really want Nick Clegg. But above all we don't want to give anyone the power to take us into illegal wars, to impose identity cards on us, to raise unfair taxes, to give inheritance tax breaks to the super-rich, to hand more power over to Eurocrats, or to bring in more ill-conceived legislation. We've had enough of them swilling at the trough while telling us to tighten our belts. In fact, we quite fancy a hung parliament, with no single party or clique exercising total control for another five years.

Most of the politicians hate this thought and the right wing press despise it even more and they will do everything in their power to stop it happening. The scare tactics have already begun and the warning voices will get more shrill as May 6th approaches.

My feeling is that we are going to give them exactly what they deserve - nothing. No mandate for any of them. All decisions will have to be made after great long debates and thrashing out deals. Compromise will be the only way forward and they will even have to work for their living. They deserve everything that's coming to them.

But will it be good for the country? My guess is that it won't make a blind bit of difference.