That stuff Branson said, quoted by Piers above, cuts to the chase. It makes a mockery of the government-funded advertising campaign someone mentioned, in which every issue of society, right down to pub closing times, can be apparently be resolved to our individual satisfaction if we will only turn out and vote on May 5.

The one thing new Labour has done that was truly exceptional was to start a war not in self-defence or retaliation, but as a pre-emptive strike against an enemy weakened over several preceding years by sanctions and air strikes. It was the first time that so-called civilised democracies have gone to war on the strength of intelligence alone. It is now clear beyond the slightest shadow of doubt (and if it wasn't, the Butler report makes it so) that in using the intelligence for his own (ie Bush's) agenda, Blair not only "sexed up" the dossier but lied through his teeth to parliament.

One result is colossal destabilisation in the gulf region, with the volatile nations of Turkey, Syria and Iran, not to mention the vested interests of the Kurds, Shias and Sunnis, all desperate to fill the vacuum. Meanwhile US military strategists now start to talk in desperatiion about getting out, even though the insurgents are still able to mount 50-60 significant incidents a day, exactly as they have been doing since Saddam was toppled.

Is there any reason why Iraq should NOT be top of the agenda when people consider how and whether to vote on May 5? It is the one issue on which our views might actually cut some ice.