Election Points: Before Gordon Brown named the day

My column from today's Liberal Democrat News.

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In a few short hours Gordon Brown will be going to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament. So we’re going over to Mike Snood who is hovering over the Mall in the Radio House Points helicopter.

“What can you see, Mike?”

“Nothing. It’s pitch black, Gordon Brown isn’t here yet and, come to that, neither is the Queen.”

“Great, Mike. Keep us posted. Now, this is the first election where social media – blogs, Facebook, Twitter – will be really important. And we’ve just had our first tweet here in the House Points studio. It’s from atomicknickers1992 and it says: “WTF OMG can’t believe you started soooo early!!! ROTFLMAO.”

You can see just how important these forms of communication are going to be.

Now over to Hilary Moosewrangler who is standing by the railings outside the palace. “What’s the news, Hilary?”

“They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace.”

“That’s fascinating, Hilary? Are there any voters there for you to talk to?”

“Yes, there is a Christopher Robin, who has come down with Alice.”

“And how do they see the election going?”

“A soldier’s is terrible hard, says Alice.”

“Thanks, Hilary. Clearly one voter there who sees defence as an important issue.

“Now we are going over to Westminster for the latest on the Digital Economy Bill. You will remember that is passed through the Lords after music industry lobbyists found some elderly peers, explained what the Internet is and got them to say it was illegal...”

I am going to have a stiff drink while you listen to that report, because this election is going to be hard going. Both Labour and the Conservatives know that they will have to cut spending heavily if they win. And they are both determined not to admit it before polling day. We, Liberal Democrats, naturally are being a little more honest about it.

Anyway, I’ve now got to do a telephone interview with a voter in a West Midlands marginal who has just painted his kitchen.

“Hello, Mr Newtplaster, how’s is the drying paint looking?”