The Contented Politician

It has been reported in some sections of the media that Gina Ford is writing a political blog. This is not the case. As we said last week, the Contented Baby team, with the help of some of our website members, will be putting together regular round-ups of the main events and issues that are likely to interest members in the run-up to the general election.

Gina, meanwhile, is concentrating on all things Contented Baby-related. To read her latest news, please click here.

Weekly Round-up (1)

We all felt very positive about politicians after watching Channel 4's fantastic film about Mo Mowlam. It was the station's highest-rated drama for more than eight years, with 3.5 million viewers tuning in to watch Julie Walters star as the late Northern Ireland Secretary. Mo Mowlam may have been a spin doctor's nightmare, but the voting public loved her.

As elections approach, politicians can become very cautious about what they say and do, preferring us to see the airbrushed version. But the public admire conviction politicians, like Mo Mowlam, and we're looking forward to seeing who's brave enough to tell us what they really think, instead of sticking to a safe script.

Later in the week, our opinion of MPs dipped. We learned that half of them have been ordered to repay a total of £1.1 million to the taxpayer after abusing their expenses. That includes the Prime Minister, Tory leader David Cameron and LibDem leader Nick Clegg. Nobody's come out of this well, with glaring examples of expenses abuse on all sides. MPs who have violated the system, and who want to stay in their jobs, have only a few weeks left to convince the public of their integrity.

It's not been a good week for the Tories. On Tuesday, we learned they're losing support in the polls. ComRes puts them just seven points ahead of Labour, on 38 percent. Almost half of those questioned said the Tories were "not appealing". It's meant a jittery week for David Cameron. Westminster is full of speculation that there could be a hung parliament; and maybe there's less certainty of Mr Cameron moving from his home in Notting Hill to Number 10.

To make matters worse, his Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, got into a scrape over crime figures. Embarrassingly for his party, Mr Grayling was publicly rebuked by the Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority for "misleading" the public over violent crime rates. It was Mr Grayling who got it wrong last summer, by comparing life in British inner cities to the American TV series 'The Wire', set in Baltimore where the crime rate is far higher than anywhere in Britain.

Perhaps worst of all, Mr Cameron was forced to "clarify" his party's plans for cutting public spending. Apparently, he's not planning "swingeing cuts"; yet his party has spent the last six months telling us how serious they are about tackling the deficit. No wonder voters are confused.

Nick Clegg, the LibDem leader, hasn't had much to cheer about either. The ComRes poll put his party on 19 per cent, confirming no upward change. He has some interesting policies, such as his plan to give everyone a £10,000 personal tax allowance. It would mean that almost four million people on low incomes would pay no tax at all. But, judging from the polls, those four million aren't rushing to vote for him. Perhaps he's been spending too long talking about his holidays. With the UK's economy in crisis, he kicked off the week by giving a massive free advert to Spain's state-run Paradores hotels. If all else fails, he may have a career opportunity as a Mediterranean tour guide.

With the Tories wobbling, it's been a better week for Gordon Brown. He made a big splash by announcing plans for a referendum on changing the voting system. He claims the Alternative Vote system (AV), explained well here, would give the public more choice and make Westminster more representative. One problem: there's no time left to do it. Labour has had 12 years to change the voting system. If they really believed in it, would they have left it until now? It looks more like an attempt to curry favour with the public and the LibDems, whose support they might need if there is a hung parliament.

Meanwhile, we have attached our first spotlight on a policy that is of direct interest to many of you: Paternity Leave. Over the next few weeks we will be offering short explanations of some of the more complex policies, setting out where each party stands.

We love to see passion and conviction in our politicians (although Nick Clegg's past revelations to Piers Morgan may have been more than we needed). But with Valentine's Day approaching, are the policies of any of our leaders setting your heart on fire? As always, let us know what you think.

More soon...

The ContentedBaby.com Team

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