My word, Charles Clarke has large ears

Is he hiding junior ministers behind them?

Sorry. Just watching the Newsnight debate, with Jeremy Paxman being unwarrantedly funny and sharp (isn't this supposed to be, you know, a serious election?), and - strangely - the three party representatives not actually arguing vociferously about police and crime, at least until some members of the voting public had stuck their oar in and got everyone upset. Which is interesting, because on previous issues they'd been at each others' throats.

Which makes me wonder if perhaps all the parties know that crime is far too sticky to get into at this stage. They've learned they can't rely on trotting out figures, because the figures never tell you anything useful (although, in despair, I realise that the majority of people still don't know why statistics are so rarely helpful to them) - so they seem to have chosen to say nothing, desperately hoping that way that no one will point out that they're making it all up. (Sorry, nearly typed "... that they're wankers" there - slight touch of the Campbells.)

Currently having fun with the BBC's election website, particularly the Peter Snow bits. Fabulous - this is what elections are all about. Peter Snow and sausages (we used to eat sausages on election night when I was a child, as a way of staying awake). Roll on May 5th!