Things have got so bad for one disgruntled Tory voter, going only by the name ‘Martin’, that he has taken out a full page advert in today’s Times laying into Cameron and Osborne as a “desperate and expensive cry for help”:

Click to enlarge.

“I am a natural Conservative voter who has become very disillusioned with my party over the last 3 years. I realise you are both terribly important and you really cannot afford the time to actually think about us mere taxpayers and citizens, which is why you have correspondence units and a phalanx of staff to shield you from the unpleasant realities of the real world. I am rather hoping however, that you read the newspapers. That is why I chose this rather unusual mechanism for trying to remind you that there are real people out here. Call it a desperate and expensive cry for help.

… Finally, no Mr Miliband. This does not mean that you, or indeed Mr Balls, would be likely to do a better job. Your party, in the form of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, got us into this mess by exploding government spending for little positive benefit. There is no reason to suppose that you would do any better.”

Ouch.