James Harding tells a story so good I'm going to share it for a second time. About 15 years ago, after the prime minister had delivered a party conference speech, the then-editor of The Times turned to some of his columnists and leader writers to ask what they thought the speech was really about. "There was an awkward pause, then a colleague turned and said he thought it was about... an hour."
Seriously, what is this election about, other than a month to go? Labour, an unerringly consistent 20 points ahead in the polls, has given up carrying the Ming vase and instead plastered it in bubble wrap, put it in an Uber and sent it off to bed. The Tories are coming up with increasingly unhinged policies (I say that, but the national service one started it all) while the Liberal Democrats, until their recent announcement on free personal care, were content with packaging their leader as a middle-England camp counsellor.
