God knows what Gareth is on about there. You must have got on his wrong side some time, Carol. He's got a right side too though.

I can't really see why people worry too much about election promises and that. They don't mean anything, so far as I can see. If you vote for someone just because they say the things you like in a campaign, you're just storing up disappointment.

I think Kerry's wife Teresa got it about right when she said "Political campaigns are the graveyard of real ideas and the birthplace of empty promises". And she strikes me as a good enough reason for preferring Kerry, if there weren't any others.

What matters is whether the bunch of people who are going to have their hands on the controls after an election are more likely on balance to do less damage than the other bunch. And that doesn't look too difficult to work out in this case.