Jonathan Freedland - writer
1. Britain never again to go to war on a false or fraudulent basis
2. After a century of waiting, an elected second chamber
3. An increase in budgets for school meals, so that the next generation is not fed on processed junk
4. A constitutional convention to sort out the way Britain is governed - with everything on the table, including the chance to elect our own head of state
5. A crackdown on corporate scroungers - finally forcing tax-avoiding, mega-earning companies to pay their fair share
6. Spend the extra money on the elderly: on care homes and live-in nursing, but also education, arts and entertainment for pensioners.
Douglas Kennedy - novelist
My platform as a prospective prime minister would be a straightforward one: "Put me into No 10 and I’d resign immediately and hand the job over to Gordon Brown - who would get us out of Iraq, shore up the public services, and continue his good work to combat both world poverty and the British poverty of aspiration." Now whether he could live up to such exalted sentiments remains to be seen, but I continue to travel hopefully in such cynical times.
Shami Chakrabarti - director of Liberty
1. A greater culture of respect for the rights and freedoms that make up our democratic society
2. No punishment without trial; a more rational approach to preventing terrorism
3. More adequate protection of personal privacy and rejection of the huge societal and financial costs of compulsory identity cards
4. Properly circumscribed police powers; protection of the presumption of innocence and the rule of law
5. Defence against the demonisation of asylum-seekers and other vulnerable minorities in society.
