I vividly remember Jim Callaghan singing "There was I, waiting at the church..." at the 1978 Labour Party conference, just as he was ducking the opportunity of an election and holding on to the end. The Winter of Discontent and Margaret Thatcher followed in short order.

History is indeed repeating itself, once as tragedy, and again as farce.

Charles, Charlottesville,

Gordon Brown should have learned a lesson from his now very former Canadian counterpart Paul Martin, aka Mr. Dithers. Martin longed to be PM, finally ousted his boss, but failed to translate his leadership in the Finance Office to the PMO. Martin tripped, stumbled, and instead of being a strong leader, dithered on almost every issue. In the end, he lead a short-lived minority government and was relegated (along with it now seems the mighty Liberal Party) to the dust-heep of history and party infighting.

Mark, Newfoundland, Canada

Darling's Inheritance tax give away last week looked pretty desperate,and shows again they don't have any good ideas of their own. Blair often talked the talk with good ideas but almost always failed to deliver on them, and much of it tuned out to be just spin.
Labour have spent a huge amount of our money, and much of it not very wisely.
It is a corporation that when you mess up the cash flow you can raise taxes to solve the problem.Any normal business would have gone bust years ago with such a spendthrift at the helm.

Trevor, BURY ST EDMUNDS,

The pendulum is swinging away from labour because people suddenly realise they are exposed to a humdinger of a recession and that property prices go down as well as up, wiping out many in the process.

Throw into the mix this time very serious global financial imbalances, unresolved conflict in the middle east, under-stated inflation, mass immigration - and you have the recipe for a very ugly future.

MarkS, Leeds,

I feel that the problem is voter disengagement due to the fact that all three parties are the same except for some minor differences. Many people would vote for a minor party (eg Plaid Cwmru, the BNP, the Greens, etc) if it weren't for the fact that we are forced into a two-horse race between two centre-ground parties staffed with professional politicians with no experience of the real world. We need proportional representation to get a more representative ruling class, whether that is unpalatable to the Islington elite or not.

Dr A Caldicott, Palmerston North, New Zealand (ex pat)

Could it be ....

.... that Britain is finally waking up to the fact that it's had a socialist tax and waste government for the past 10 years??

Only time will tell.

Jon Leigh, Southern, France

I'm not so convinced. The Inheritance Tax moves were claimed to be "wildly popular", but were in fact only so in the south (though admittedly in key marginal seats). Moreover, they were financed "for free" i.e. by magically taxing non-voters, and were extremely modest in overall scale.

In other words, we are still waiting for the honest debate about lower taxes and commensuate lower public spending. Nor do the Tories have any clear ideas on getting better value for money out of the public services - they attack the target driven culture, but "trust the professionals" doesn't sound like a cost control strategy to me.

We are still waiting therefore for a clear agenda and new ideas from either side. Until this happens opinion polls are bound to be hugely volatile, because the voters have so little to go on.

Nick, France,

This article, like all others in all sections of the press, reads to me like something which is becoming irrelevant to many of the public. The fact is that 40% of British people don't vote and 10% and rising vote for small parties. Political journalists write about the battle beween the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems but this is just a fight for a smaller and smaller slice of the electoral cake. Could we have PR please -this would encourage new parties to form, and maybe some of the non voting public might re-enage.

Carol, London,

The other factor you did not touch on is that Labour are going to get trounced in Scotland. Their formulaic winning of seats has been a banker for them. Not any more Alex Samon will slaughter them at the next general election.

(Scottish nationalism is another matter not for discussion here).

Jeff Knight, Coalville, England

If tax cuts for the rich are going to get the electorate to vote Tory, I'm not sure I'm living in the right country.
It would be easy for Labour to win back votes if they came up with popular policies that the Conservatives would never back. How about introducing a new public holiday each year until there is one in every month?

Andrew, Woking, Surrey

The only fly in the ointment here is the personal credibility of the Tory leadership. They have been advocating neo-socialism since Cameron became leader. Now they are changing tack not out of apparent conviction but for what is evidently a "marketing" response. So who will impute them with any sincerity and honesty?

Gervas Douglas, Auragne,

WHat a load of tosh !
Cameron will be seen to be far more innovative and clever than Blair. The next 20 years needs new ideas and policies, which the tories can deliver on. They have shown this over the last couple of weeks. Labour has no new policies of its own. Instead it continues to throw money at the NHS while not understanding how to run it.

Martyn Ryan, Bury St. Edmunds, UK

I agree. I think that as a general rule a small government and small public sector is more desirable. More of your own money in your own pocket. Less wasted in public sector inefficiency. The constant tax and spend era is hopefully coming to an end.

Colin, Edinburgh,

Cameron did not bait, he told nothing but the truth. Brown and the rest of Labour are exposed for what they are. How is it possible for a government to remain in power when they have the absolute cynicism and mistrust of the electorate? They don't even believe their manifesto is binding.

Helen, Northants,

A s always Mr Kaletsky is clear, coherent and authoritive.

Denver Watt, Osaka,

So here we are back in a traditional Labour situation.Strikes,rising
PRBR and a slowing economy. The fact is the Labour party only managed 10 years of growth on the back of Conservative modernisation of the economy.The fact that it has taken 10 years to unwind just shows how healthy the economy was when Labour took over. I remeber the last time Labour was in power (?). Power cuts, rampant Unions, refuse in the streets, in short mayhem. They may wear smarter suits but these charlatans are the same old Labour.

Adrian Bromhead , Bonn, Germany

If enough British voters have forgotten what a Tory Government smells like then they will get another. If all it takes is a Tax bribe and Brown wrongly stringing out the election timing, then Britain has not changed for the better.

As for the Tories, It is quite ridiculous to portray the Tory front bench as a potential Government. The Thatcher and Blair Governments both had an assortment of heavy weights and had developed their policies over many years and after numerous false starts. Cameron is not a Thatcher nor a Blair, he is a PR man and good at it too but he is not the calibre needed to be anything other than a disaster as a PM.

What is for sure, Brown needs a Communications Director fast. One that will do to the British media what Campbell did for Blair. Only someone that able will have a chance of balancing the British media's own spin and reality distortion and keep his boss's massive ego in check.

Ian, Toronto, Canada

It seems to me that the election should be held next month on the same day as the Australian election . The outgoing labour politicians could then all become advisers to the new Australian Labour government and the outgoing Howard government could find similar employment in the UK. Everybody happy.

Chris Murray, Melbourne, Vic

Oh give me a break! The reason why the General (thinking) Public do not like New Labour is the same reason why the General (thinking) Public have never liked New Labour. New Labour stole the clothes of the Conservative party. They wore them with a moderate amount of pride, and success, for a while. But, in the end, they were Tory clothes and they don't fit.

Do you really think that they can be replaced by a backward thinking Conservative party? This may come to pass but it would be a financial disaster for the country. See America and George Bush!

Anyway, why replace the Labour party with a pale imitation of Tony Blair (Cameron)? The days of the Conservative party (and it's imitators) are over. Therefore, move over Gordon Brown, we need a real Labour party in power!

Marc, St. Barthelemy,

I thought New Labour was a shift to the right. Is that not why it is New Labour. I live abroad, but with internet and other sources of communication, I'm acutely aware of the trends in Britain. Unfortunately there are no leaders, leaders who have performed and have noticeable experience outwith politics. We have a bunch of lightweights trying to show their miniscule differences from each other.
There are issues which must be emphasized:
Race relations within England's large cities.
Nationalism be it Scottish, English, Welsh or Irish
The Army's deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan
The European Community.
Climate change
It appears to me that these issues are being addressed by immediate public opinion and not based on great strategy.
David Cameron is a lightweight and despite any PR work will always be a lightweight. Gordon Brown, if he has a vision then it is lost on me. He will unfortunately be held to a higher standard, simply because he is Scottish.
Where are the Leaders?

Jim McCallum, Calgary, Canada

I will never vote Labour again. Mr Blair had lied to the world about Iraq's wmd's. How can anyone trust Labour again?

I'd rather vote Conservatives, even if they promised to bring back the old 'poll tax'. Thats how angry i am.

Mohammed, London, UK