Gordon Brown yesterday went back to basics with his party’s manifesto in a bid to recapture the wavering New Labour generation.

It was a distinctly Blairite manifesto and his promised to put people in charge of reform public services and his pledge not to raise income tax rates will resonate with the voters who brought his party to power back in 1997.

Brown’s acknowledgement that Labour face “the fight of our lives” to secure a fourth term will appeal further to those who back the underdog.

But, as I said yesterday, the proof is very much in the pudding and I share the view that while the idea of halving the deficit by 2014 looks good, there is nothing to suggest how it is going to be done.

At such an important election, I would have preferred a bit of brutal honesty and Brown’s decision not to categorically rule out a hike in VAT on things other than food and children's clothes leaves a lot of people fearful that the Government will do just that should they secure power again on May 6.

William Hague is in Bolton to launch The Conservatives’ manifesto this afternoon and the theme there seems to be inclusion of the public as well with an "invitation" to the British people to join them in government.

The promise of public inclusion from both Labour and the Conservatives is something to be welcomed but I cannot help thinking it is long overdue.

In fact it is so overdue, the Conservatives have apparently been working on the manifesto - a hard-backed 130-word publication no less - for the last four-and-a-half years.

Let’s hope for their sake its not the kind of book we put on a shelf and soon forget about.

Finally, my blink-and-you’ll-miss-it TV appearance on yesterday morning’s BBC Breakfast raised plenty of giggles among my friends.

Thankfully, I was stuck on a train between Darwen and Bromley Cross and have not seen it but I am told by my dear of grandma that it came across OK, even if she did give me a telling off for not doing up my tie.

Don’t forget, you can keep bang up to date with the General Election campaign right here on theboltonnews.co.uk or you can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AndrewGreavesBN