Not a pun on Gordon Brown's affliction, but instead the current state of politics which means that political parties simply cannot afford to be different to each other. From Cameron fearing the new Lib Dem tax policy so being forced to admit that his "tax cut" agenda isn't set in stone at all, to Brown aping the Tory policies on forced labour for benefits, and all of this after the Lib Dems craftily stole the main points of Labours transport policy.

Of course while I think the Lib Dem policy is hypocritical garbage, and the news of Cameron willing to raise taxes is like saying the sky is blue, the Labour party never fail to surprise me in how far they're willing to go to become the nasty party, and to completely abandon the kind of liberal thinking that changed the face of this country over a decade ago.

Let's not be coy about it, this is about as bad as it's been for Labour for over two decades. Every day there seems to be more bad news, and where there isn't bad news coming about Labour tearing itself apart there's almost always simply better news about the other parties. That is, until today.

Today marks the time that the Tories are starting to think about getting serious, and with that comes a true fleshing out of the variety of proposals that they have merely drifted over in the past. Good news for the Tories? Not when it shows the same anti-youth, authoritarian instincts of the current government in a traditionally poorly thought out Conservative manner

Probably not safe for work, here is our third effort. As always we welcome comments on the style and content in an effort to improve! Transcript below...

When is a Labour MP not a labour MP? When they're government ministers it seems, when they have to roll out Tory-esque policies every day to seemingly stay in the news. The drivel that pours out of our central leadership today being that Caroline Flint, housing minister, suggests that those not seeking employment should be evicted from council homes. Following in the vein of Hazel Blears she wants to introduce yet more contracts, the theme of this government seemingly being to legally enshrine the British public in to some kind of duty to the state (do they enjoy being called Stalinist I wonder?).

Over on CentreRight Charlie Elphicke has posted a continuation of their new debate on Britain's relative decline (and not just economically, they say). In his post he talks about how we should be more rich, not touching the more ambiguous topics supposedly in distress such as crime levels and military power.

I feel Labour have kept the economic boat steady one way or another, with the counter-balance most probably being that we aren't reaching the GDP growth we're capable of. But with many less unemployed than under Tory led policies, more benefits for the poor stifling most hints of outrage at just how few people get so much of the total wage packet every year, and an economy that may not be super strong but also doesn't succumb to the mega lows of Conservative politics, one has to ask just how you should measure how "rich" a nation is in the first place.