Does he really believe any of what he is saying? Does he really think enough people are stupid enough to believe him to hit the 35%?

He is absolutely blowing his only chance to make an impact by churning out baseless same old same old rhetoric.

The problem with the much-trumpeted ID card scheme was it was feted as "helping make us safe from terrorists", despite the fact that it was an unnecessary burden on public resource. Thankfully Alan Johnson realised the flaws in Blunkett's plan and scrapped the idea.

We already have a number of ID schemes in place:

NHS Number, issued at birth

NI Number, issued when you start work

Passport Number, issued when you are granted a passport

Driver Number, issued when you get a licence

The above plus foreign national ID cards would cover about 99.99% of the population, making an ID superfluous.

The ID card scheme and the "Snooper's Charter" are jsut more ways of the state exercising control over us, when it should be the other way round. Tory governments have always appeared keen on individual responsibility and a "small state", so it does seem a little perverse for them to be wanting the facility to pry whenever they feel like it.

Wait until you see the proposed dog's breakfast of a British Bill of Rights.

Give him the Town Hall keys and a mop and bucket, he might make a decent janitor.

Ed's speech was a disaster. By forgetting to mention the economy and deficit he has destroyed his party's chances. Cameron has highlighted this and by again using 2010's stories re the EU / NHS has come out of the conference season with an opinion poll lead. Even now, as I have said over and over again, Labour should ditch Ed. He is nothing but a liability to Labour. He has no credibility. Interestingly though, a Times article today (presumably from a pro-European journalist) said the real danger to the UK economy is Dave with his EU referendum proposal rather than useless Ed who he reckons couldn't do as much damage with his daft ideas.

The papers deserted Milliband several months ago when he didn't step as far to the right as the Tories are about to leave - to go even further to the right. Claiming Labour somehow had a chance when more attention is currently going to UKIP is a bit silly.

With the Lib Dems finished for the foreseeable future it's now only about how far UKIP can drag the Tories in their direction.

Many friends assure me UKIP will stumble this time. But I think it was pretty clear last election when a ton of money began flowing into their coffers that the target was always this election.

Of course they won't win. But they don't need to in order for their allies in the Tory party to turn to starboard. This country is full of idiots who will jump up and down like a performing monkey when Big Business presses a button to run another argument about [i"Fuzzy Wuzzies taking our jobs!"[/i

The right wing media is a joke. The "left" wing media is everything George Orwell rightly despised.

And I thought I was living in the country I was born in...

The same powers are being rolled out in just about every major Western state. One might even suggest greater powers are at work than states.