Labours election manifesto

Well here we are. I don't quite know what to say, I mean It certainly on the positive side which is good, Attack ads are not only cynical but can also camouflage the party that paid for the message. That 1979 Labour isn't working advert, the one set at an unemployment line well that was about Thatchers claim that her economic policies would actually REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT which I think we can all agree on was probably the biggest electoral failure of a post war (thats WW2) Prime Minister.

Anyway cheery atmosphere aside lets take a look at whats actually being said, First we have our "typical Brit family" which stupid names aside do do a good job at caricaturing the average British family if in a sugary sweet way (apart from that Jack son, seriously what was he supposed to be caricature of passionate Teenage activists? because at it certainly didn't look like it) and they've done a fairly good job in getting their priority's straight.

Note I'm only using the above video itself for this analysis.

1) A new Industrial Revolution,
Ok this is a very good one to run with, the Economy has clearly dominated the news and debate (political or otherwise) and emphasising the idea of a brand new a massive job creation scheme, especially one that uses "the latest digital and green technology" could resonate with both the working class the newly unemployed and the growing ecology movement.

2) National Care Service, and the NHS,

Again this a good if not surprising. The NHS is still very popular (as it should be) anyone remember when Cameron was desperately trying to make it the central platform of his "heir to Blair" movement he started when he first became leader in a desperate attempt to make himself seem "progressive".
Speaking of which here's an idea for you Dave if you really want to be taken seriously as a "progressive" then don't change your logo to a scribbled tree; change your party to one that doesn't have the words "Conservative" in the title.

Sorry back to the main point, both the NHS and the care for the elderly have been seen not -without merit- to have been neglected under Labours past three terms, so this could be a good sign that their finally getting it back together.

3)Tax credit and more time off for new parents,

Well I don't have much experience in the realm of parenting but as well as this being a nice and in my view the moral thing to do, it has been fairly consistently proven that the more contact a child has with both parents early on in life the more psychologically "healthy" they turn out to be. And more tax credits to relieve some of the financial strain of child rearing can't hurt.

4)"Stronger Communities" with an emphasis on Police expansion,

Although I do believe in strong communities the video only mentioned increased policing so thats what I'll work with.

I know I few people out there have reasons to dislike the police, especially if you've ever attended a march or rally, and so do I but for a-political reasons which I'm not getting into. But are society does need a police and the majority of the British public do have a favourable image of them, and what with the constant scaremongering going on in the press about "Broken Britain" emphasizing a strong police force makes good political sense if not idealistic.

5) Some sort of major Education Improvement drive,

It seems going by the vid it looks like theres going to be renewed emphasis on education and "parental authority", now are current education system is in a muddle, we have comprehensives, Public schools, Grammar schools, Religious schools, Academies etc. so reform here could go either way, though I strongly suggest the next policy initiatives listen to the Teaching Unions who have done an excellent job of outlining whats wrong with them now.

6) "Active Democracy"

Now this final one was the worst in my view of the lot. I can see why they made it that way, they didn't want to provide the Tories with ammunition or lose any of the single issue nutters by being seen to take a stand either way on any real issues. Unfortunately that makes Jack here look completely mental, and in effect patronises many of the young activists whom I assume Jacks aimed at attracting. Thats not a really good thing to do, as many activists take themselves very seriously.

So all in all I guess I kind of do like this one. Its quite to my personal tastes but compared to what the other tw... err one and half are pushing this is effectively ambrosia.