It is standard practice in Britain for the ruling government to start buttering up the voting public just before the Election. This is traditionally all done surreptitiously (but not quietly) of course, because the Prime Minister was the only one who controlled & knew the date of the election! The general public had no idea they were being set up as conned voters of course, and the opposition couldn’t prove a thing! The PM practised a form of ‘shadow boxing’ pretending to throw a punch (call an election) to get the opponents into a tizzy, spend their election money too early, and basically go off half cock. The current Government have blown all that though haven’t they? They decided to introduce a ‘fixed-term’ parliament – basically five years, no questions asked, but no chance of a coup de grâce to catch the others on the hop.

So we all know what the Government is up to now (and they can’t hide it, but they will deny it!) as they enter the race’s last lap – the final year of their current administration no less. Oh yes, the voters can expect a bumper year with giveaways galore that would make even the supermarkets’ eyes water (despite the Deficit not going DOWN as planned, and the National Debt actually going UP & UP). Let it be said, that means only you lot in England, Wales, & Northern Ireland – Scotland can get lost can’t it? It doesn’t matter how their little Independence vote goes, they aren’t going to figure because there are no votes up there for the Tories are there? [The three main parties are committed to expanding the ‘devolved’ powers of the Scottish Assembly, if you Scots vote NO – not specified but probably so you will then be able to determine your own parking fines and the like?

Just to mention though, that none of you should ‘rely’ on any of the goodies & sweeteners that are going to be offered for your votes – unless the Conservatives get in they will be quickly ‘off the table’ and not even supported by the Party having lost. The Tories & LibDems will vie with each other now though to get ‘credit’ for the pre-election giveaways. We already have the LibDem gimmick one of free school meals for Primary school kids, which was ill thought out, unfunded in part, and is destroying some schools as it gets implemented; they also want to claim the scalp of new income tax cuts (but the last thing their Tory partners will do is fund that with a mansion tax).

What about the Governments ‘Freedom’ policy (with Fairness & Responsibility) at the start of the parliament – will they try to breathe life into that idea (whatever it meant) to gain public support without any cost? The Conservatives say all their future policies will be ‘family friendly’ – what a load of tosh surely?

Don’t worry everybody Labour will be getting in on the act as well –they are going to pull some crowd pleasing rabbits out of the bag (but not so early as to allow the others to steal their clothes or thunder of course). They got off to a good start by saying they will freeze energy prices didn’t they?

Immigration will figure of course with gimmick action proposed left right and centre – believe what you want, it won’t make any difference (we are in the EU you see). ALL parties will say they are going to build enough houses to sort out the critical housing problem – as the cockneys would say more ‘porkie pies’ of course (they have NEVER done it when they had the chance did they?).

[No one, even with a crystal ball, can predict what will crawl out of the woodwork, but at this time of austerity, and limited financial manoeuvring ability, we are in for a fascinating year aren’t we?].