Incredible that politics throws up people with no experience of running ANYTHING who then promise to run the country! Have we lost our minds?

Wider skill-set than photogenics and acting is required. We had that under Blair, and look at the state of the country

Bob, London, England

I haven't work out which is which, yet. They're all so bland!

Vee, London, UK

I think we can be sure that there are older heads in the background. It represents a different scene and there is something inherently objectionable to having young people seemingly in charge of the old and bold. It would be as much a mistake, though, to associate a fresh face with lack of competence as an old face with competence. There is no doubting David Cameron s competence, but his fresh face would seem to be a political weakness in an abrasive Press environment. Nonetheless, the normal pyramid should apply, and one presumes that for political reasons it has been momentarily suspended.

Henry Percy, London, UK

This issue goes beyond the selection of political leaders to leaders at every level. We have HRH, councillors, teachers et al, leading society without appropriate backgrounds or experience which adversely affect the lives of many. This inadequacy has removed any respect we have for them.

Dicken, Farnborough, UK

If Milliband takes over Labour, the next GE will be, 'The election of,' The Three Blairs'

There'll be: Milliblair, Cammiblair and Cleggiblair' what a choice!

david, exeter, uk

It is not confined to Ministers.
The Commons is becoming "The House of Sinecure".
Posh kids with money or connections see it as a "good little earner" (especially if in a safe seat)
As Mark Twain once said "If work was so good the rich would have hogged it all by now"
Now they are MPsor MEPs

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

Perhaps it is because I am a mere stripling of 37, but Cameron speask to me in a way that many of his conservatives predecessors did not. It is not that these individuals are too young, but rather that you Mr Walden are showing signs of age.

SJP, London, England

I agree with Danny - we need 'real people' as our leaders. The present government is overloaded with lawyers, and we'd all benefit if our MPs had a wider range of experience and expertise. And I don't need to know what football teams or music groups they support - this is totally boring.

Anne Hardy, Reading, UK

sure a lot of good in what u say...but give me youth any day over hidebound oldies...well Milliband anyway, not the empty CAMERON.....and I,m 71 by the way.....move on oldies

JOHN ROGAN, LONDON,

John F. Kennedy? He almost started WW3 & was an extremely dangerous man. Chamberlain is a saint by comparison.

ian cheese, london, uk

The age difference has a lot to do with it I'm afraid. I recently ran a unsuccessful campaign for the Kansas State Senate, District 36, in the USA. I am 43 years of age and ran against a man in his 70's. In terms of contact infomation he had a phone, no email. I had email, and no phone.

Robert Tilford, McCracken, Kansas, USA

Unfortunately there are no rules for competence. People either have it or they don't. Churchill had a wealth of experience and finished up the chief architect of the biggest catastrophe since the Norman Conquest. At least the present crop appear not to be suffering from delusions of greatness.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

They make Chamberlain seem a giant.

john, london,

Good article George. Matty, Frankfurt - "We want real people with real business experience to be leaders." What's with the we - you speak for yourself not for me. I don't just want people wtih business experience - I'd like soldiers, doctors, educators, public administrators, artists etc. too.

Danny Callaghan, London,

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Perhaps the 'hour' is not yet upon us. UK PLC is in a bad way, but things will get a lot worse before they get better. Age/experience doesn't necessarily make someone more suited for PM. It depends on the individual & what 'experience - look at the one we've got!

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

A real douche of cold water and in many ways justified. Our rulers really should have struggled in the real world before office then they would truly understand what it is all about. Yes, Boris Johnson is a very uncertain trumpet.

Dr J Findlater, Carnforth,

These are all weak men & one will be sent to man the brig whilst the captain and crew climb into the one leaky lifeboat to escape a sinking ship UK Plc. You can always tell there's something wrong with a country when light weights are allowed to scramble for the helm.

kevin, Lincoln, UK

Milliband and Cameron have not much meanginfull life experience - unless you take the life of priviledge and Oxford as something which counts. Working for think tanks and the BBC should not be enough to qualify you as a Prime Minister. We want real people with real business experience to be leaders.

matty, frankfurt, germany

The policies of Brown and Cameron are NOT "of a muchness". Brown thinks the state should rule everything (hence the gigantic size of it), Cameron wants smaller government with each individual showing personal responsibility and entrepreneurship!

The two things could not be further apart!

S Williams, London,

If we're all to live far longer, but only youth is valued, then an ever greater chunk of our lives is to be relegated to uselessness. I'm old enough now to know that maturing takes decades, not a couple of months on the job. I shudder at the idea of that cartoon character Miliband as PM.

R. Douglas, Princes Risborough, UK

Raise the voting age to twenty. No local Councillors under the age of 25, and no MP's under the age of 35, and a maximum total of ten years' service for either; a combined total of twenty years. That will help to ensure both real world experience and competence in government.

Tom Benford, Kyoto, Japan