ED MILIBAND, a prospective Prime-Minister-in-waiting, says that if elected he would pass a law to make televised political debates before a General Election legally binding (Echo, Mar 9).

Wow, if this is the calibre of somebody who hopes to lead our country then what hope do we have? When there are more pressing problems that need addressing than you can shake a stick at, he comes up with this humdinger.

What we need is somebody, anybody, who will actually articulate what ails the country and spell out unequivocally what they propose to do about it if elected and not come up with such asinine ideas.

What's his next big idea? A Ministry For Funny Walks?

The country deserves to know the manifesto of each party as soon as possible in order to be able to make an informed choice about who to vote for on May 7.

M Hawkins, Durham.