Here in Sussex, the public confirmation that a new season was on its way came on Friday with heavy rain that along with a drop in temperature felt and smelt like Autumn. Sadly the warm days we have got used to are ebbing away. My personal warning of the change came when I saw my first Robin of the season on the 29th August. Along with the changes to the weather and natures hour hand arriving at 9 there are also changes taking place in our political discourse. Although the early days of July gave us a phony war with one or two Conservative Ministers and MPs using their public position to take pot shots at the Labour Party, this weekend is the start of the 20 month campaign to persuade people like you and me to trust the parties with our vote in May 2015. The juxtaposition of MPs returning to their Westminster desks and arrival of TUC members in Bournemouth has led the Conservative party to launch a negative campaign on the issue of the funding of political parties. Already stung by criticism for being too silent during the Summer, Ed Miliband will need to respond to this campaign, not because it is worthy of him (frankly the Tories should be embarrassed at their own lack of integrity) but because he appears on the posters and due to the conference season arriving he simply has no other option. Sadly the most likely outcome is something equally negative about the Conservative Party and so they will both go on into the Winter and whilst there may not be much of a reduction in party membership as a result, the support felt by many of us will continue to bump along the bottom of what counts for ‘popular’ support for our public leaders and their parties.

A winning strategy on the other hand would include a strong focus on resolving the International crisis in Syria in a manner that does not lead to missiles in the air or boots on the ground, but rather on increasing the convoys of food and medicine, with a decrease of those supplying weapons of mass destruction to each side. This approach would support the 2M people who are displaced outside Syria and 4M inside the country, and begin to remove the means that Assad has to kill his own citizens. If the two main parties could be seen to outdo one another on the work to deal with Syria that would be a political race that would show that they really do want to do good. There are many issues in the UK that could be dealt with in a similar manner.

It was revealing to hear Maurice Saatchi on the Marr Show this morning pointing out that elections are won on ideas, not on communication techniques. This weeks campaign by Conservative central office is all spin and no idea. It is based on the assumption that if Labour cuts off Union funding and caps single donations to a maximum of £5,000 then the inevitable consequence is that we, the taxpayer will need to fund the parties. This is just plain nonsense. All parties are capable of restructuring their activities to work on the basis of funding at a sustainable level, after all many public and private organisations have done just that since 2008. That would have a substantial impact on reinvigorating the membership of the parties, if my donation or yours was not simply seen as a drop in the ocean compared to what the Unions or Oligarchs provide. It is time that the parties begin to live within reasonable means, not rely on donations from people who do not understand the lives of most of the voters in this country. As the saying go, those who pay the piper call the tune! Perhaps it is time for people like you and I to start calling a few tunes.