Yesterday saw the official start of the 2010 general election campaign as both major parties unveiled the ground where they will fight for control of the UK’s government. The ground is covered by the results of unregulated private sector* financial extravagance and the resulting bust under Prime Minister  Gordon Brown.

The choice seems to be how soon to start cutting public expenditure in real terms. David Cameron and the Conservatives say now, and Labour, who interestingly used Chancellor Alastair Darling as the front man, say later. Of course, all this posturing revolves around the election which is probably coming next May. It is going to be a long and repetitive argument during a period of rising mass unemployment, even if stock market valuations continue to recover. (This tends to account for the famous green shoots we keep hearing about).

Widely regarded as frontrunner, the Conservative party leader David Cameron won’t want to commit himself to anything controversial before voting day – and it is hard to see how Labour, especially under Gordon Brown, can recover from the economic mess they are presently in charge of. Thus, the cartoon.

Another thing to read: Paul Mason of the BBC has a good piece here.

* It has enabled a lot of off-balance sheet public spending too.