I've spent
the last few days at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester and, next week,
I'll be in Birmingham with the Conservatives. The conferences represent a great
opportunity to meet and network with business and lobby organisations, MPs, and
others but - to be truthful - I find them a bit depressing. Some of the fringe
events are interesting, and I've heard some fascinating debates and arguments,
but I'm far less impressed by the main conference sessions.
Now before
I am accused of being partisan, I'm not suggesting any one party is better or
worse than the other, and I understand that politicians are playing to an
audience which is largely comprised of very passionate and committed party
faithfuls who hang on their every word, but I honestly don't want to listen to
a litany of all the things that the 'other parties' have done wrong, how
misguided they are, and how they should be ashamed of themselves.
What I want
to know from the party in opposition is what they would do to address the
issues they see as being important, in specific and detailed terms, so that I
can form an opinion as to how realistic their plans are, and how I believe they
would perform if they were in power. What I want to hear from the governing
party is how they're going to address things that aren't working quite as they'd
wanted, how they're going to modify their plans to get things back on track,
and where those plans will get us.
The
optimist in me says that I'll be more impressed next week; the realist says I
doubt it and my depression at British politics will deepen!
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