‘Nationwide’s index of consumer sentiment slipped to 72, from 81 in February, wiping out all the gains seen since December. Martin Gahbauer, chief economist at Nationwide, said: “With an election looming, more people will be unsure as to whether they will be better or worse off, and recent concerns about the economy and employment could still be playing on the minds of consumers.”’

Not sure this is strictly accurate, precisionwise. This is actually the lowest it’s been since July 2008 (when the world seemed to be coming to an end)….and one suspects that a better interpretation would be:

1. With an election looming, voters somehow now that none of this shower have a clue what to do.
2. With a debate looming, everyone’s feeling incredibly down. We psychiatrists call this reactive depression. It’s a sign of good health.
3. People aren’t unsure about their prospects Marty, they’re double-dog certain that every mammory will soon be pointing skywards.

One thing that probably didn’t build confidence was the calculation in today’s FT that between them, the three stooges got their numbers wrong by £30billion in the Manifestos. As it happens, Nick Clegg told a photogenic schoolboy this morning that he was ‘rubbish at maths’ during his own schooldays.

But I think this is Nick trying to put The Slog off the scent. His maths about the difference between AV and STV proportional voting systems are perfectly sound.

Which makes us wonder here in Slogger’s Roost why he seems to have dropped the latter in favour of the former. Something that also has Jeremy Paxman wondering as well, I hear.

Stay tuned: if you hear any more about this, it will be here first.