Soundbites are all that is required to win votes and elections - if you can convince enough people that they are not feeling particularly wealthy despite the opposition crowing on all the time about a booming economy then you will take seats, statistics will prove anything and the truth comes no-where near a politicians lips at election time.

Quite frankly I can't see Labour's pathetic leadership 2 Eds, Cooper, Harman, etc convincing anybody. They are truly wet and hopeless.

Quite frankly I can't see Labour's pathetic leadership 2 Eds, Cooper, Harman, etc convincing anybody. They are truly wet and hopeless.

Neither can I but they have nothing left to seel to the public but soundbites and victimisation, there's a lot left to fix but I don't think they have any more clue as to what to do and what order to do it in that the current incumbents have, I certainly can't see any form of leadership in their party and would trust Brown/Darling again more than Miliband and Balls.

On a lighter note and as a fan of the Pink Panther movies the Graham Stark character who owned the fancy dress shop that supplied Inspector Clouseau's disguises was called Balls and I feel that a Prime Minister Balls would be an excellent comedy role, cue Clouseau walking through the shop on his knees in Toulouse Lautrec disguise shouting "Balls, you're a genius!"

"Yes..yes..I know that"

I'd like to have been there when Ed marginally won leadership of Labour over his seemingly much better suited brother David.

Surely someone must have taken a step back, realised what had happened and said "woah woah woah, have a look will ya!"

So you think David would have made the difference do ya?
I must have been missing this towering colossus and inspirational heavyweight whilst he was contributing to British mainstream politics.
Not for me, and his brother isn't any better.

Maybe Danczuk was right?
Maybe the Labour Party has been hijacked by the North London liberal elite?

I think his brother was and still is far better suited to the role of leader. He's more natural looking and sounding on TV and would have been able to push Cameron more on issues.
However I honestly think Labours biggest weakness isn't Ed Milliband but Ed Balls. Making him shadow Chancellor was Millibands biggest mistake. He just doesn't connect with anyone. He doesn't come across as knowledgeable and a safe pair of hands like Brown did. And he struggles with speeches, so any time there's a big economic thing in parliament like the budget Labour can't fight back because Ed Balls cant manage his speech.
If Labour had had David Milliband as leader along with someone else as shadow Chancellor then I think Labour would be in a much stronger position.

That happened in Ramsey Macdonalds time and little has changed since, imo of course.

Aye, but it was a long way from Morayshire to Primrose Hill in the 19th Century.

What a stupid comment.

You would have to be a bit thick to assume as you seemingly do that they would legislate to ensure wholesale price falls were not passed on especially [isince they have called for the companies to do just that[/i given the large drop in wholesale prices is NOT being passed on anything like in full.

Indeed given wholesale prices have fallen by 20% since November and we are seeing cuts in domestic bills of around the 3.5 and 5 percent mark there is still plenty of opportunity for pricing reform here. Scottish power's 4.8% cut announced today (due in Feb by the way) amounts to a grand saving of 63p a week on the average bill. The price of a cabbage in Tesco.

The high cost of energy has not gone away especially as electricity which is not seeing a decrease in price is in often the much larger bill anyway.

I don't like Cameron one little bit, but why the hell should he have UKIP yapping in his ear while that brother back stabbing blatherskite gets away with not having the Greens doing the same to him. Anyway the whole TV debate thing is joke, but it gives people the idea they are making an informed choice so......

Just be glad you have electric....we frequently do not, here

If 4.8% equates to 63p, the weekly bill is 13 pounds. That doesn't seem especially high for an average bill.

It's a long way from Moray to anywhere