I find it frustrating that, in the US, the two party system is so firmly entrenched that other voices are only reluctantly heard and then only every four years. It leads to unholy alliances such as the one between the theocon and neocon and pro-business sections of the Republican party.

It also means that the only way for single issue causes – such as the environmental, pro-life, anti-war, anti-immigration and pro-worker movements – to have influence is to hitch their wagons to one of the only two trains at the station. At least, in the UK, the LibDems, Scottish Nationalists and the Greens theoretically have a chance to influence government – even if it does mean that, occasionally, the British Nationalists win seats (in America, those people would be voting Republican).

Brian Brivati, in platform 3, suggests that the Euston Manifesto represents another step along the road from allegiance to a party to allegiance to a core set of values.

The gradual shift from allegiance to a particular party to allegiance to certain core values that has characterized politics over the last few decades means that the nature of coalitions and the content of alliances that can now emerge may surprise us all.

I would gladly walk that road with him.