A bitter election has intensified party rivalries and fostered a whole new feeling of outrage at the duplicitous and downright dishonest tactics used by the other. An atmosphere which is singularly lacking in trust is not the best place to call for a more constructive relationship.But to prevent the progressive parties following an electoral strategy that will reduce the chances of change, we will need some in each party willing to explore what a different relationship might feel like. Without this, electoral reformers will find their hopes dashed again.John Denham MP is chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee. My own “American odyssey” has left a deep imprint on my way of looking at the world. I was born a European, and spent my formative years in the Netherlands. I left for the United States as a young man, eventually settling in California to build a life and business career.

I found in America a people in many ways the same as that I had left behind in Holland: committed to democratic ideals, free market principles, and a system based upon the rule of law. For example, Americans want their values to play a lead role in foreign policy. Europeans become uncomfortable when President Bush proclaims his profound faith, his reliance on God’s support and guidance, or speaks of an axis of evil. They squirm when Americans preach the gospel of freedom and liberty. But our modern history has reinforced the American view that it is crucial to confront evil head on, whether this be Hitler’s Holocaust, Stalin’s forced collectivization, Pol Pot’s genocide, or Saddam Hussein’s brutality and aggression.Are we likewise ready to adapt our economies to a rapidly changing world? The Lisbon strategy has failed to create the modernizing pressures the “Old Continent” so badly needs. What it has exposed is a morass of obfuscation and over-charging.

Three quarters of the residency contracts analysed by the OFT contained “unfair or unclear” billing terms Many elderly people are paying too much. A fifth of care homes charge residents who pay their own bills more than those who are funded by the local authority. The Office of Fair Trading’s study of Britain’s care homes has uncovered substantial failings at the heart of this £8bn a year sector. And it is utterly shameful that the managers of Britain’s care homes have been taking advantage of older people in this way.The OFT’s recommendations on how to stamp out this practice are sensible.