YouGov did some interesting polling work over the summer, asking voters whether they thought the main* political parties were close or not close to various groups in society. Most of the results are predictable, but there were two which caught my eye – both of which could spell trouble for the Tories.

These two groups were “People with families” and “Older people”. For Labour, 54% and 44% of voters respectively thought the Party was close to families and the elderly. The Tories could only muster 42% and 33%.

This is to Labour’s credit – they used their time in power to build an effective image as defenders of the family, introducing an array of financial tools (see Child Trust Funds, Child Tax Credits, Working Families Tax Credits, etc) to reward and keep close to the families of Britain. The closeness to the elderly is a little more difficult to decipher – services for the elderly didn’t have any major headline revamps under Labour – it seems more to be a well-crafted image.

This is ground Cameron wants back, and will probably need if he is to take a majority in 2015. The scribbly tree and video diaries from the family kitchen were all ploys to grow closer to the family, but they don’t appear to have worked too well.

The Conservatives’ problem has been confusing family values with families. Any poll would undoubtedly show them as closer to family values, but when it comes to practical support of the family the Tories have fallen behind – and this poll was taken before Child Benefit got chopped.

So how does a government busy cutting its budget boost support for the family? Clearly they can’t extend more financial benefits – even Cameron’s token marriage bonus got scrapped – and the conveniently named credits of Brown’s Chancellorship are likely to fall into the far less cuddly Universal Credit.

What they can do is far more organic, perhaps far more real: they can return power to the kitchen table. Increasing school choice, through free schools or vouchers, gives families more influence over their children’s education, just as jumping on Labour’s market-like healthcare reform bandwagon lets the family feel more in control of its treatment.

Frank Fields’ report on child poverty has already recommended more family friendly school holidays as well as parenting taught (sensibly) in schools, and is likely to include further recommendations on bringing parents into schools to involve them in their children’s education. These ideas should be followed.

The Tories don’t have the money to make new headline benefits, and to do so would be a mistake even if they could. Instead they need to find a way to bring family into the heart of policy, else they might feel that next general election slipping away.

* Well they didn’t bother asking about the Lib Dems…

Avid readers of this blog (I realise this is probably just my dad and my housemate who is still basking in the glory of having rhymed dozen with oven and come up with its name) might have noticed that I’m a big fan of pulses. Chick peas especially, but honestly when it comes to student cooking my philosophy is much the same as the guy who just downed 7 VKs at Park End – I really would do anything with a pulse.

Lentils have a bad reputation. They’re two main associations seem to be wearing hemp and farting, and let’s face it that is no way to go far in life. But if you have a couple of quid and you’re really bloody hungry they are such a great solution. So are split peas, chick peas, cannellini beans… They are so cheap, and so flexible. They absorb spices and they taste better the next day. Some come in a bag, some come in a can, but whatever the packaging they usually cost about 45p. I don’t really know how else to convince you, so I guess I’ll let the recipes do the talking. Enjoy!

Coconut Daal

Serves 4

The only real effort here is chopping the chillies – if they’re at all spicy it means you can’t change your contact lenses for days and everyone has heard that story about the guy who went to the loo and… well, there’s a solution! Buy pre-chopped chillies in a jar (usually preserved in vinegar or similar) and use them. They’re really similar tasting in the end and more cost-effective.

500g yellow split peas

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced thinly

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 thumb-sized lump of ginger, finely chopped or grated

2 chillies, or 1 ½ tsp of chopped chillies

2 tsp garam masala

1 can plum tomatoes

1 can coconut milk

some fresh coriander, if you’re feeling flash

Boil the split peas for about 30 mins in water (don’t add salt at this stage). While they’re boiling, put some oil in the pan (or butter tastes amazing, but not if you’re watching the waist line) and add the onions. Cook this very low for about 10-15 mins so they onions are soft.

Turn up the heat a little and add garlic, ginger and the chopped chillies and cook for 2-3 mins. Add 2 tsp garam masala and half the can of plum tomatoes (adding 1sp of sugar at this stage will get rid of any acidity). Simmer for a further five mins.

Once they’re cooked (soft but not mushy) drain the split peas and add them to the mixture and then add the coconut milk. Try it at this stage, and add salt (quite a lot) and pepper according to taste before simmering for 10 mins. This will allow all the flavours to mingle and also soften the split peas a bit more. Serve with brown rice, white rice or rotis and a little coriander if you have it.

Lentil shepherds pie

Serves 4

This sounds so dull. The kind of thing you’d see on a menu in a vegetarian restaurant and rue the day Linda McCartney was ever born. But it’s actually bloody delicious… and there’s a meaty recipe below if you preferred John anyway.

100g brown lentils


1kg potatoes

A knob of butter (how does that still make me laugh?) and some milk

2 tbsp olive oil


1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

2 carrots, finely chopped


200g(ish) mushrooms

400g tin tomatoes


1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1tsp (each) dried oregano, thyme and rosemary


some cheese

Put the oven on at about 200 degrees C (Gas 6, but don’t know F so google it). Boil the lentils until tender (it’s easiest to follow packet instructions if there are any, but it usually takes about half an hour). At the same time, peel and put on the potatoes (which will take a similar time to cook if chopped into small-ish chunks).

While those two are boiling, heat some oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and carrots. Cook them until they are starting to soften and then add the mushrooms and cook for a further five minutes.

Once the lentils are cooked, add them to this mixture with the tomatoes, herbs, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. While that’s cooking drain the (hopefully now cooked) potatoes and mash with some butter and milk. Then add the lentil mix to a dish (making sure it’s ovenproof) and cover with the potato and then some cheese. Cook for half an hour. Dreams.

Cheap cassoulet

Serves 2

1 large chorizo cooking sausage (250g ish) or 3 spicy or merguez sausages

1 large onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 carrots

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp chili flakes / crushed chilies

1 glass white wine (or 1 tbsp white wine vinegar)

1 can plum tomatoes

1 can cannellini beans, drained

salt and pepper

Put the olive oil in a pan and start to warm. Add onions and start to soften. Then add chorizo / spicy or merguez sausages and cook until the oil starts to ooze out. Add garlic and carrots into the pan and allow to cook until the onions are totally soft and the carrots are starting to soften (don’t allow the garlic – or sausage – to burn).

Then add oregano and chili flakes and either a glass of white wine or 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar and a small wine glass of water – allow to boil for 30 seconds. Add the can of chopped tomatoes, the can of cannellini beans and another glass of water and then allow to simmer (low boil) for 20-30 mins.

Labour’s biggest problem is that they’re confused. There’s no direction. The biggest political issues of today, in terms of media coverage at least, are issues over which they too would be behaving rather similarly: housing benefit, as Ed Miliband wrote a manifesto pledging to reform it in a similar way; and student fees, as they set up the Browne review and were opposed to a graduate tax. A YouGov poll this weekend asked whether voters though the various party leaders were doing well in their jobs. A staggering 34% replied “Don’t Know” when it came to Ed Miliband. The people aren’t disagreeing with him, they just don’t know what he thinks.

An example of the policy confusion can be seen over welfare reform. The Opposition began with knee-jerk attacks, until John Healey did a Sky News interview supporting a cap on Housing Benefit, the press realised Ed Miliband’s manifesto contained the commitment, and more extraordinarily remembered how Caroline Flint had proposed to throw the long term unemployed out of their houses altogether when she was Housing Minister – far more extreme than a 10% cut! The decision settled on now seems to be to agree with everything on benefit reform, unless the IFS disagree.

The problem is a lack of a coherent narrative. There isn’t a story to their opposition, an alternative ideal they’re presenting. The most recent party political broadcast didn’t target the cuts or the soon-to-be unemployed, it focused on families earning over £45000 who are going to struggle after losing their Child Benefit. Where does this fit into the narrative?

Research by YouGov this summer showed that the three groups voters associate the Labour Party most strongly with are trade unions, benefit claimants, and immigrants. The Tories were of course most in tune with the rich, but their image problem is all too well documented and undergoing a (slightly slow) transformation.

For Labour to win the next election they need to focus on 2015. To build an image of a Britain they can deliver, that is bound together by coherent policies. They can’t be the Party of “scroungers”, rather of the aggrieved worker struggling out of the recession. To do this they can’t rest on “we’ll look at it”, as Alan Johnson said about a graduate tax this week – you can’t please everybody by saying nothing. Instead Labour need a framework, one which their activists are on board with, that says more than just “we’re not Tory”.