This could be an interesting week. The Labour Manifesto will be issued, but the Conservative one is not expected just yet. That will create a difficult few days for people like Javid who are stressing their fictitious costs of the Labour proposal. Time and again they are likely to be challenged that the figures they quote are for things not in the manifesto, while simultaneously still unable to cost theirs. And if they start saying what they think the actual manifesto will cost, they will again be open to challenge that they are putting more effort into costing the Labour proposals than their own.

I am convinced that this is going to be an election of individual wards. The conventional approach of seeing what Sunderland does (or other early declarer of the ward result) and basing predictions assuming that everywhere is likely to be an unusually poor guide to what actually happens.