The Liberal Democrat’s manifesto is out. It has the shape and feel of a traditional manifesto, laid out in nine sections, with a shopping list of policies in each. The sections cover Europe, health and social care, education, the economy, families and communities, green policies, international policies, rights and (of course) constitutional reform. Housing policies are buried in family and community, but include the significant, and welcome, aim of expanding house building capacity to 300,000 a year. Benefits are also part of family and community. Most of the measures, as in the Labour manifesto, are about trying to repair recent damage: reversing cuts to Universal Credit and ESA, unfreezing benefits, abandoning the two-child policy, restoring Housing Benefit and JSA to 18-21 year olds, and of course the bedroom tax. Among new policies are to separate out employment support from benefits (a good idea) and withdrawing the Winter Fuel Payment from people with higher incomes (a bad one – they should have learned from the fiasco with Child Benefit). Possibly the most depressing line is that they will “ensure that those using food banks are aware of their rights”. Food banks are here to stay, then.