Something to celebrate?

Yes I agreee he is a likeable man. On a wider scale its positive thing that the albeit small voting population has taken issue with what the coallition are doing or not doing. In terms of how he could really step up I want to hear a response that was speciffic measured and coherant. I am pleased he is listening really I am, but what is he saying? He needs to start instilling passion in the people and by that I mean the people that don't vote. Not people who attempt to understand and research politics. They are the ones he has to win over. He needs to talk about what we need to do as a country to fight this awful recession make Britain Great again but I fear the message right now is too diluted he is trying to win people round fighting the Tories on their short term gain policies is not enough. Anyone can talk about the problem but come up with solution thats what will get people listening and believing. Otherwise he will remain a modern day Michael Foot. A very clever intelligent principalled man but someone the masses would just not vote for.
Lets hope he is listening and is going to start engendering a sense of purpose and recovery in the whole country. If he starts to talk about credible solutions then we could well have a Leader and more importantly a party that people might want to believe in ...is my humble opinion.

aquashiv, I think Ed Miliband is very good. When he first came in, I thought he was not very good, but I have changed my mind after seeing him in action. People want a humble non-arrogant man, someone who is not above listening to the public.

Yes and No. I live in a Tory stronghold surrounded by the sort of people that would never vote for any dirty socialist party and that is them referring to the Lib Dems. The took a pasting for good reason. What ever you think and whatever your inner political radar says their policies arent working.
I still have trouble seeing Ed Milliband as a PM he is a a lovely genuine man and very clever but perhaps too humble, not an inspiring leader. MInd you look at the bloody oaf we have.

But they tell us that companies are sitting on billions that they are not investing into the economy. That is idle capital. Why not tax that idle capital, so that the companies have to inject it back into the economy and provide growth and jobs for people?

There is no end of growth and development that can be achieved. Innovations in technology and medicine lie waiting to be uncovered and they will improve the lives of people. But that doesn't fit with "saving the planet", because that they say requires lower growth. So like a tree that is stunted and cannot grow, they wish to hold the people down and stop their growth.

And that's why Miliband's speech today was good. He said he's on our side. He said they've cut taxes for millionaires and raised taxes for millions. That's what the little guy wants to hear, that's a crumb of hope.

But the little guy has heard it all before, he's seen them come and go by the score, and nothing ever changes. He has lost faith and doesn't even bother to turn out to vote, he half remembers hearing these speeches once before, as if they are said by rote. But after what he's been through, what else can he do, he has to try and cope and once again live in hope.

The big guy runs the media and the media constantly pumps out the big guy's message - sustainability, austerity, cut back your growth, and some little guys believe it. They believe it was all their fault, because big guys never lie. The little guy can't see the wood for the trees, he can't see the big picture, he doesn't realise he's been conned, he can't spot the big lie, he believes it's all necessary in order to "save the planet".

They're not short of a bob or too. They're even richer than they were before, and as the little guy gets poorer under zero growth and negative growth, the big guy's money goes even further, his relative wealth increases as the little guy's wealth decreases. And teh big guy tells teh little guy not to worry, because that's the way it's got to be, that he has to cut back and cut growth in order to be "sustainable". The big guy says we've passed the "tipping point", there's no turning back dammit, don't you want to "save the planit"?

'I wonder where all the wealth washes up?'

In the pockets of the big guys. They still get bonuses, they still drink champagne.

There are some parties who want zero growth and even negative growth.
They say that is teh only way that is "sustainable", the only way that will "save the planet".

They want the little guy to have no growth, they want to stunt the little guy's growth. How are they going to achieve that if the little guy is thriving and prospering and the economy is booming? The only way to achieve that is "austerity". That slows the little guy down. But how can you implement austerity? You can't unless there is a financial crash which makes austerity imperative.

So there is a debt bubble and the little guy thinks he never had it so good. Then the big guy stops the music and some big guys say they are too big to fail. So the little guy has to bail the big guy out and the big guys then impose austerity on the little guy. And the little guy has zero growth and even negative growth and maybe negative equity too, and then the big guy tells the little guy that his pension will be cut and he has to work till he drops too, if there is work to do when the little guy passes 60 in the era of the big guy's negative growth.

'and all of sudden, its a the little guy who's to blame'

the big guy always blames it on the little guy. The debt bubble was deliberate, just like many stock market bubbles are, so that the big guy can pull the plug when he feels like.

Obvious it was going to happen. Governments, bankers, families, individuals have been spending money they don't have for years, living in some sort of bubble of unreality. When the party ends and the government (and it would have been whichever party got in) finally confronts reality and says we have to get a handle on unsustainable debt, people run way from reality again...

Says he wants to reach out to the 2/3rds of people who didn't vote at all, and show them that ii is worth voting and that all parties are not the same.

Says Labour are beginning to make a comeback in the South of England where they were previously defeated.

It will be interesting to see what Cameron says about the results later.

Says he wants to show them that he is on the people's side. Exactly the right stuff to say.

Very good speech by Ed Miliband in Southampton and to the Sky reporter. He looks genuine and is humble not arrogant. Says he wants to gain the trust of the voters, show them that not all parties are the same, that Britain can change for the better. Very good stuff. If he carries on like this, the Tories could be in trouble - particularly if they are seen as out of touch.

Think it says the national mood is not for the coalition at the moment but is that sadly because the economy is in the doldrums or because they don't like their ideology.

I think it is the former unfortunately.

'I've heard he's ace at folding towels'

I would expect no less from a Bullingdonian, but it is his expertise on matters financial for which he is rightly respected.

I personally like having a LibDem voice in the government. It gives balance and a different perspective. I hope they remain together.

If Osborne manages to turn the economy round, then by the time of the next election, the mood will have changed and the Coalition will be more popular. Even the LibDems will recover as people will vote for them in order to soften a rightward drift of the Tories. People will forget some of the blunders and errors and look forward to the future, and a united LibDem, Tory Coalition may not seem like a bad choice to the majority of people.