There were pledges aplenty from the prime ministeryesterday: everything from "personalised" health services to rights that would be matched more closely to responsibilities. But some may judge it as initiative strong, policy light.

For all the fanfare, there was relatively little that was genuinely new aside from some extra low carbon eco-towns and a clutch of health announcements. However, the speech managed to touch on many of the voters' principal concerns - guns and knives, a better state pension, more personal tuition in schools, dirty hospitals, more help with university costs.