OpEd: Election 15-04-15

The commentators 15-04-15

...on the general election

Viewed in terms of social outcomes - the difference that policy actually makes to our lives - the economy dominates all and a judgment about who to trust on the economy is the most important when it comes to voting.
- Daniel Finkelstein, The Times

Mr Cameron is telling blue collar voters that he will champion individuals seeking the “good life” for themselves. Mr Miliband is promising the selfsame electors that contentment and prosperity depend on a society committed to building “a common good”. The outcome of the election will depend on which interpretation of goodness proves more appealing. The only certainty is that white van man, once parked on the hard shoulder of politics, is back in the driving seat on the road to power.
- Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph

Any day now the so-called women’s campaign will be launched. There will be a flurry of concern about how women are likely to vote. There will be detailed analysis of the way women tend to prioritise the NHS and public services over tax cuts and relations with Europe. Some may observe that women tend to decide later, so theirs is the vote to be fought for in the closing days of the campaign. This will be followed by several days of coverage of the leaders’ wives, with the occasional walk-on part for their ex-girlfriends
- Anne Perkins, The Guardian

Why does Labour refuse to be the party that inspires us? In a country crying out for transformation, for something better and bigger and more engaging than just efficient book-keeping, it could both win power and regain its soul. It appears determined to do neither.
- George Monbiot, The Guardian

Britain is obsessed by property - there is no other country so addicted to bricks and mortar. Housing will once again be the issue that tips the balance in the election if the Tories convince voters that they can own their own homes.
- Alice Thomson, The Times

The sickness at the heart of housing today is not a lack of aspiration from council and housing association tenants but a chronic shortage of new housing supply. We are simply not building enough new homes. The Tories’ 1980s-infused policy cocktail will do nothing to cure that ailment. Indeed it threatens to make matters far worse.
- The Independent

Why was Justine furious? Because a man she had never met before - a man who didn't seem particularly interested in her or her choice of conversation - was involved with her hostess friend?
Was she furious with him because he didn't interrupt a conversation about economics to say "by the way, I'm going out with Stephanie". Was she furious with Stephanie for not mentioning the secret relationship?
Or was she perhaps furious because she thought she might have made a fool of herself by making a play for a man who wasn't available?
- Getting into a tangle over Miliband's love life

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