I really don’t know how one would plumb depths lower than this. We have had a week of New Labour and the Liberal Democrats accusing the Conservatives of planning to raise VAT. Neither of the accusatory Parties provided a single shred of evidence in relation to this.

Now tonight The Slog notes that Labour will not raise income tax, but cannot rule out a rise in VAT in its manifesto – according to the BBC. And the Libdems’ Treasury spokesman Vince Cable today refused to rule out a VAT hike in an interview with the BBC Politics Show….in spite of his party releasing a poster attacking the Tories and suggesting that is what they would do.

What is the point of any of this? Last night, the idiot Nick Clegg said social unrest could follow spending cuts under a Tory Government, David Cameron walked a few yards with marathon charity-walker Beefy Botham, and Gordon Brown did whatever it took to get himself photographed with black people, yellow people, brown people and babies of any colour.

Today sees the first of the Manifestos. Manifestly, they will all consist of fantasy pledges and vapid fixes for problems whose solution lies beyond any of the existing Parties. There are already leaked guarantees of access to GPs, an endless supply of mortgages, and (who knows?) free bus passes for all those in search of a job.

Already, most people find the promises incredible – and have no idea which Party is advocating what policy. Only the VAT issue is now clear: whoever wins is going to put it up.