Helmets off, ready for action

I've been grappling to find a reason to vote Tory at this election. Instinctively I lean that way - and indeed worked for them ten years ago - but the party has given few reasons to come charging to their corner.

The whole strategy seems to be based on how useless Gordon Brown is rather than promoting any Conservative policies. One of the few memorable stances they have taken in the past couple of years is being against grammar schools, which I would fight to defend. I'd also rather Ken Clarke was Chancellor than George Osborne.

But yesterday morning David Cameron won my heart when he was photographed cycling into Parliament without a helmet. He ruined the effect a little by wearing a reflective sash, but otherwise the message was clear: I am a free man, responsible for my own actions and their consequences and I will not follow any of society's silly conventions. It is, of course, not illegal to ride without a helmet. Nor should it be.

The lefties are upset and Will Straw, son of, tweeted that Cameron wasn't setting the right example. This is the same Straw who was caught selling drugs as a teenager, but that was in his past and he should be allowed his youthful indiscretions (although tell that to his Labour friends still sniffing around for any evidence of Cameron's own druggie youth).

I hope Cameron carries on defying the healthy and safety vultures during this campaign. Walk under a few ladders, cross the road between lights, eat pork scratchings, drink more than 21 units of alcohol in a week, drive while using a mobile phone, smoke in your office. OK, so the last two are illegal but I want a leader who thumbs his nose at silly attacks on liberty.