Election - no heckling please we're politicians

As the election campaign nears its final days the bitching between the leaders is starting. The usual “Lib Dems can’t win” and “it’s a wasted vote” were the sentiments coming from both Tory, sorry Conservative, and Labour camps. The Lib Dems themselves were revelling in the defection of Brian Sedgefield from Labour. Issues that have dominated the campaign in the eyes of the media have shifted from Rover’s closure, health and Iraq. Now, all talk is of education. Tony Blair popped into a school near Clacton, Essex only to be boo-ed by a number of students. Or at least that’s what it sounded like! Sky were debating the issue earlier this afternoon. Prescott is still in the West Country, snubbing countryside alliance protesters and journalists. And Tony is now is in Liverpool [only on Sky News Active though]. Michael Howard was visiting a hospital today and failed to wash his hands between patients, provoking criticism from all sides. And can the real people get anywhere near these people. Even as a member of the press it is virtually impossible to even find out about their itinerary, let alone get into the ‘rota’. A Dispatches special, on Channel 4 last night, and a programme on BBC3 called The Heckler, both highlighted the undemocratic, inaccessibility of our contemporary leaders. And as allegations of postal vote fraud were still being voiced in many of today’s papers, the deadline was up and the statistic of 1 in 7 votes being a postal vote was released.

Other numbers of interest: word counts in the party manifestos
Iraq - Labour – 10 / Tory – 3 / Lib Dem – 9 / Green – 3
NHS - Labour – 40 / Tory – 10 / Lib Dem – 16 / Green – 12
Euro/Europe - Labour – 26 / Tory – 16 / Lib Dem – 20 / Green – 17
Terrorist/ism - Labour – 19 / Tory – 2 / Lib Dem – 10 / Green – 4
Labour - Labour – 105 / Tory – 28 / Lib Dem – 54 / Green – 0
Tory - Labour – 11 / Tory – 58 / Lib Dem – 2 / Green – 0
Conservative - Labour – 0 / Tory – 0 / Lib Dem – 20 / Green - 0
Lib Dem - Labour – 0 / Tory – 0 / Lib Dem – 67 / Green – 0
Green - Labour – 0 / Tory – 0 / Lib Dem – 0 / Green – 155