Have you spent the last four years “fired up to play your part in the nation’s future”? No? You didn’t accept your invitation from David Cameron to join the government of Britain? Is that because you wanted “a future fair for all” offered by Gordon Brown?

Or perhaps you didn’t spot the sunny uplands on offer at the last election because you didn’t read the manifestos. Most people don’t. If they are remembered at all it tends to be for the promises not met, rather than the policies delivered. In this context and against the backdrop of public disillusionment with Westminster politics that I want to persuade you that manifestos really do matter. Read more