It's Official. I'm undecided

What confusion! What deliberation! What excitement! Potential for a hung parliament! Coalition government! Blimey, even the Lib Dems could win! Okay maybe not the last one.

This election campaign has left me in a quandry. All my politically conscious life, I've seen myself as a staunch Labour voter with 'lefty' socialist leanings and a healthy disdain for the Tories.

They can re-package themselves with pithy slogans about change fronted with a flabby faced young-gun but I'm not buying their 'Big Society', just another way of saying 'we'll leave you the people to sort out the crap for yourselves thank you very much'.

Slips of the tongue on homosexuals and B&B's smack all too much of the reality of Conservative ideals and their stance on Europe and plans to reduce the BBC seem typical of traditional Tory policy. That disdain then, thankfully, still remains, yet I do wonder whether my 'faith' in Labour isn't about to flicker out and die too!

New Labour, popularity ravaged by the decision to go to war in Iraq and slumping under the millstone that is the UK's financial debt, undoubtedly have their major faults. For what it's worth, I fundamentally support Labour's plan for economic recovery, it just simply seems the least 'knee-jerk' reaction and, from what I read, theoretically, the most sound.

But then there's the 'Clegg factor'! Undoubtedly impressive in the first two of the televised leader debates, through his general cool headed likeability and honesty, he has acted as a refereshing antidote to the jaded rhetoric of the two 'main' parties.

Of course, there's other more practical factors to consider too. My Surrey constituency of Reigate and Banstead is unsurprisingly 'blue' through and through, has been since the War (probably the 1st Prussian War) and clearly the Labour candidate has next to a 0% chance of winning. Of course the Lib Dems on the other hand....well, they must have at least a 0.5% chance!

Couple that with some interesting articles, including this example, about how voting Lib Dem would be one in the eye for the fat cat, media moguls (that's you Mr Murdoch), and suddenly voting Liberal seems quite an attractive option. In fact, it almost feels like a vote for political revolution.

Consequently, my head tells me I should vote 'Yellow' but my heart still bleeds 'Red'. Perhaps the final leaders debate tonight will knock me off the fence once and for all....

For those, like me, who are still undecided, I'd recommend the following couple of links:

BBC's guide to party election policies
The Guardian's annotated guides to the party manifestos

Album Review: Life Is Sweet, Nice To Meet You! - Lightspeed Champion

****
On first hearing this album, I stuck my neck out and hailed it a modern classic! Has the heightened perspective gained from the passing of time done anything to quell my enthusiasm?

In truth, yes. Only a little though mind. This latest collection of Dev Hynes standards is brimming full of ambition, a wonderful album of genre hopping pop songs that confirms the artists considerable writing talent.

There's so much craft on display. From the opening flourish of 'Dead Head Blues' to the Motown infused single 'Marlene' and the epic singalong of 'Middle of the Dark', the consistency is something to be much admired. 'I Don't Want to Wake Up Alone' is a pure swoonfest, while stomper 'Faculty of Fears' bounds along engagingly.

Hynes, much in the mould of a cleaner cut, infinitely more likeable Pete Doherty, plays minstrel like to the crowd. His booky tales of love and loss ape the re-formed Libertine's penchant for romanticism. He keenly references 'Socrates' and evokes a stolen escapism with his decriptions of 'cold nights down by the mere'.

Perhaps where 'Life Is Sweet...' could be seen to fail however, is in its lack of a sucker punch. As delightful as these tracks are, interspersed with a piano etude and instrumental breaks, there's nothing of the immediacy of 'Galaxy of the Lost' from debut album 'Falling Off the Lavender Bridge'. There's certainly no 'filler' here but then there's a distinct lack of 'killer' too, which just, just prevents this album from truly being hailed a masterpiece.

Despite this though, there's so much to enjoy, so many nooks and crannies of melody and lyricism to lose yourself in, that for my part, I care not. Unlike many singer/songwriters, far more commercially sound than this subject, there's an attractive, folky whimsy to Lightspeed Champion's outlook that will keep his acolytes racing back for more.