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Every promise has a date and a name
A promise with no deadline and no owner isn't a promise.
So every commitment here carries three things: by when, who is accountable by name, and how you will know whether it happened. The list stays up after the election, including the ones marked broken.
What a promise on this page has to have
By when — A month and a year. "In our first term" is not a date, and everybody involved knows it isn't
Who, by name — One person. Not a committee and not a department — committees do not answer letters
How you'll know — The specific thing somebody could look at to check. If nobody can check it, it is a hope rather than a promise
What it depends on — The budget, the vote, or the other body that actually decides. Named, not implied
What it costs — A figure, or the word "uncosted" written plainly. Both are honest; only one of them pretends
What happens if it fails — Written now, while it is still cheap to write. Nobody ever writes this afterwards
Who, by name — One person. Not a committee and not a department — committees do not answer letters
How you'll know — The specific thing somebody could look at to check. If nobody can check it, it is a hope rather than a promise
What it depends on — The budget, the vote, or the other body that actually decides. Named, not implied
What it costs — A figure, or the word "uncosted" written plainly. Both are honest; only one of them pretends
What happens if it fails — Written now, while it is still cheap to write. Nobody ever writes this afterwards
Write your own commitments in exactly this shape. A promise that cannot fill all six rows is not ready to be published — which is the fastest way to make a manifesto shorter.
What we will not do
Every manifesto is a list of things somebody will do. This is the other list, and it is the one that actually gets read.
Things we've been asked for and aren't promising — With the reason. "We can't afford it" and "we don't agree" are both acceptable reasons; silence is not one
Things that aren't ours to decide — Named, along with who does decide them. Claiming credit for somebody else's power is the oldest move there is
Things we'd like but can't cost — Say so, and put them in a separate list called what it is. An aspiration inside a promise list devalues every promise near it
Things we got wrong last time — If there was a last time. Leaving this out is noticed by precisely the people whose vote is still in question
What we won't do to win — Whatever your version of that is. Write it before the campaign, because afterwards it reads as an excuse
Why this list exists at all — A manifesto with no negative list is asking to be believed rather than checked
Things that aren't ours to decide — Named, along with who does decide them. Claiming credit for somebody else's power is the oldest move there is
Things we'd like but can't cost — Say so, and put them in a separate list called what it is. An aspiration inside a promise list devalues every promise near it
Things we got wrong last time — If there was a last time. Leaving this out is noticed by precisely the people whose vote is still in question
What we won't do to win — Whatever your version of that is. Write it before the campaign, because afterwards it reads as an excuse
Why this list exists at all — A manifesto with no negative list is asking to be believed rather than checked
How you'll know if we're failing
Checkpoints — Set them now, on this page, with dates on them. A review whose date is decided later is a review that does not happen
Marked broken, not reworded — A promise quietly becoming a different promise is the single most common thing that happens to a manifesto
Who marks it — Name them. If it is the same person who made the promise, say that too — it is still better than nobody marking anything
The list stays up — After the election and after the term. Including the red ones, and particularly those
Partly done — Is a real answer and gets its own mark. Half of everything real is partly done
If the whole thing stalls — Say why, in one paragraph, on the date it was due. Not in the next manifesto
Marked broken, not reworded — A promise quietly becoming a different promise is the single most common thing that happens to a manifesto
Who marks it — Name them. If it is the same person who made the promise, say that too — it is still better than nobody marking anything
The list stays up — After the election and after the term. Including the red ones, and particularly those
Partly done — Is a real answer and gets its own mark. Half of everything real is partly done
If the whole thing stalls — Say why, in one paragraph, on the date it was due. Not in the next manifesto
What all of this depends on
A majority — Most of any list needs one. Say what survives without it and what doesn't — that is the honest version of a minority position
A budget — Which one, set by whom, and decided when. A promise made before a budget is a request
Another body entirely — Plenty of this is decided by somebody else. Name them, and say what you could actually do — press, propose, object
Time — Some things take longer than a term. Saying so now is not weakness; discovering it in year three is
People who don't exist yet — Staff, volunteers or officers not yet hired. If a promise needs a person who isn't there, that is part of the promise
What survives all of it — There is always a short list that depends on nothing. Put that list first — it is the one worth voting on
A budget — Which one, set by whom, and decided when. A promise made before a budget is a request
Another body entirely — Plenty of this is decided by somebody else. Name them, and say what you could actually do — press, propose, object
Time — Some things take longer than a term. Saying so now is not weakness; discovering it in year three is
People who don't exist yet — Staff, volunteers or officers not yet hired. If a promise needs a person who isn't there, that is part of the promise
What survives all of it — There is always a short list that depends on nothing. Put that list first — it is the one worth voting on
Who wrote this, and who was asked
Who drafted it — People, named. "The policy team" is not a name and has never been one
Who was consulted — How many, over how long, and how they were found. Six people in a hall is fine — implying it was six hundred is not
Who was not consulted — And why. Every consultation misses somebody, and naming them is worth more than claiming you missed nobody
How it was adopted — A vote, a show of hands, or a decision by three people. All three happen; only one of them is usually admitted to
What changed afterwards — If nothing changed, the consultation was a presentation. Name at least one thing that moved
Who can change it now — And by what process. A document nobody is able to amend is a document nobody owns
Who was consulted — How many, over how long, and how they were found. Six people in a hall is fine — implying it was six hundred is not
Who was not consulted — And why. Every consultation misses somebody, and naming them is worth more than claiming you missed nobody
How it was adopted — A vote, a show of hands, or a decision by three people. All three happen; only one of them is usually admitted to
What changed afterwards — If nothing changed, the consultation was a presentation. Name at least one thing that moved
Who can change it now — And by what process. A document nobody is able to amend is a document nobody owns
Tell us what's missing
The useful message is not agreement. It is the promise with no date on it, the dependency that hasn't been named, or the thing you came here expecting to find and didn't.
Tell us what's missing
"Something I think you shouldn't promise" is the answer that actually changes documents. It is also the one people assume is unwelcome, which is exactly why it is on the list.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.