Testing the water

I make no bones about my lack of political knowledge and my ignorance of all things fashion related but I figured it was about time to proffer my views on one or t'other. In fact the Daily Mail has enabled me to cover both in one post by providing this comparison of what the Party Leaders' wives are wearing.

I'm not sure what percentage of the electorate vote based on the sartorial choices of the spouses of the candidates but I reckon on this evidence I'd vote Conservatives. Mrs Cameron looks chic, classy and her outfits contain nods to current fashion. That surely bodes well for the way her husband would run the country, n'est-ce pas? Mrs Brown on the other hand looks a tad frumpy, especially in that cardi-and-belt combi. I'm getting bad austere vibes if Gordon Brown is permitted to continue his Premiership.

On a serious note, I do wonder why national newspapers feel fit to comment on what The Wives do/wear/eat. It's not them that will be running the country or making decisions that will shape our lives for years possibly even decades to come. Do voters care what footwear they choose to wear? Would the wrong choice honestly swing the polls towards another party? I can't see it. I realise this may be slightly wishful thinking - who wouldn't be disappointed if their fellow citizens felt it acceptable to judge a political party on such irrelevant points?

Instead we should be judging them on things like this - Iain Dale (a Conservative candidate) posted an article on his blog on how many promises Labour made in their 1997 manifesto which they have failed to meet. 27. That's quite a lot. And they were promises on quite meaty, important subjects such as unemployment, education, tax and inflation.

But would the Conservatives have fared any better? Or indeed the LibDems or one of the smaller parties? It's tricky isn't it? I don't have the time to scour each of the party's manifestos so how do I know who to vote for? The Telegraph offered a mapping quiz to test where in the political spectrum you sit. I'm not sure how accurate it is - the possible answers were "Yes", "No", "Open-minded" or "Skip question", but it didn't offer a "Depends" option which was my instinctive response to some of the questions. But it's given me a better idea of roughly where I should be looking - and it includes the smaller parties which is brilliant.

This year the election will affect me more directly than before - if there is a change of power, it is highly likely that my employer will change. Hopefully my day-to-day role will stay the same but I could be looking at a new location, new working conditions or more. Whether it's just that, or the fact that I'm getting older and realising how important these things actually are, my previous apathy to political events is slowly sliding away and I find myself almost excited.