The Conservative Party has proposals which are radically different from those of Labour.

If it actually got into power and gave people the right to use tax money to buy private education (at a school charging no more than the cost of state education) it would transform schooling in Britain. The supply of cheap private education would increase from its small base and over a period of, say, ten years, the landscape of schools would be very different.

The Conservatives also proposed to give people money towards operations in private hospitals (half the cost of the NHS operation). That would dramatically change the balance between government-supplied and private hospital care - especially because private care is already quite substantial.

These policies would have their drawbacks and problems but they offer the prospect of more choice for more people than anything equivalent in, say, the United States. They would enable healthcare and education in Britain to regain something of their former world standing.

It is true that the Conservatives themselves have not put these, their most radical policies to the fore. One gets the impression that the leadership believes in the policies but fears they do not have big electoral appeal. But the media should be zooming in on them, because they do represent a radically different vision. The Labour Party thinks that another few quangos and another few billion pounds will fix the lamentable performance of government-supplied medical care and schools. The Conservatives don't. They are offering a chance of private-provided healthcare and education for those who cannot easily afford to buy their way out already.

They are offering a life-line to people whose lives are educationally impoverished and physically endangered by the current government-dominated system.