This argument always puzzles me, it like saying I'm the best person to save you from drowning because i'm the one who pushed you in!

This 1% NI issue is getting farcical, how much time is going to be wasted talking about it. Yes I can understand the issues in the debate but we are talking 1% which is not going to be a deal breaker either way. It will be an inconvenience for business and yes for small businesses it might make them think twice about taking on new staff, but it is not going to plunge the economy back into recession like the Tories are claiming. Neither is it going to "safeguard schools and hospitals" like Gordon Brown is saying.

It's not business leaders who are being deceived its all of the media who is being deceived by being lulled into spending the whole campaign talking about this. Really they should be putting the hard questions to both parties like -

what rate will VAT be? (probably 18-20%)
how much will the basic rate of income tax go up? (probably 2-4%)
how much will student fees go up? (probably from £3225 to about £7000)
how many redundancies will be made in the public sector? (probably 300000-600000)

Given how people were so angry about the expenses scandal last year, I anticipate a similar outcry of public anger against politicians, when, whoever gets in, the real policies targeted at paying back the debt come in next year, and it will be based on things which were not talked about during the election campaign.

But for the meantime expect more heated debate about the 1% increase in National Insurance. The Health Secretary will soon be adding his name to that letter in the papers opposing it, he employs far more staff than Stuart Rose or Stelios Easyjet

Blair deemed the old Labour Party as unelectable and set out to modernise it, leading to the New Labour landslide in '97....His obvious admiration for Thatcher was, I believe, more based on her steel-grip like leadership of the Tories and not as much her wicked witch impersonation.

Similarly, Cameron knew that the 'old' Tories were unelectable and has set himself up as Blair II....Only Blair did have a few brain cells and a pair of balls, neither of which Cameron has.

rlNational Citizen Servicerl

Not a bad idea from the Tories this, but if it's voluntary it won't really hit the people who need it, will it?

I hate politics.

I love it (in case you hadn't realised).

Lol it just bores me to tears

Don't bother with a thread about Politics then

Is this about politics.. i thought it was about the National sorry.

Probably used before because it's true.

'Vote Green: It's a pretty colour.'

snowy morning

a racing cert.

From what I can understand the National Citizen Service is voluntary on the basis that if teens don't like being forced to do things. A lot of work has gone into it, in fact it is mentioned as far back as in Dylan Jones' 2008 book Cameron on Cameron.