Within hours of the launch of the Tory manifesto, the Conservative lead over Labour in the polls was slashed by half. The Tories are in a crisis over their “dementia tax” bombshell, which is a direct attack on the aged and sick, the most vulnerable sections of society. Another manifesto pledge, to axe free school lunches, provoked widespread uproar after a report found it could hit 900,000 pupils. Out of desperation, there has been a feeble attempted U-turn on the “dementia tax”, with promises of some kind of cap. But this is too little too late. Welcome back to the Nasty Party!

Iranians are going to the polls today in presidential elections. President Hassan Rouhani has been leading the polls followed by the main principlist unity candidate, Ebrahim Raisi. Yet the result is not the most important aspect here—the elections have brought forward the enormous contradictions in Iranian society.