Yet of course there is something the government could do in this field which would count as radical. This would be to promise higher taxes. But this idea, you will not be surprised to hear, won't be appearing in the manifesto. Yet we shouldn't dismiss the idea of a radical manifesto altogether. Tucked away in the small print there may well be hints of genuine innovation.
Labour is likely to promise, for example, a small but significant policy of wealth-redistribution.
Meanwhile there are interesting ideas being worked out on making towns and cities more liveable - enlarging pedestrian areas, improving parks, cutting traffic, enhancing safety. New environmental policies are also on the table, including a major programme of investment in renewable energy and other sustainable technologies. None of these initiatives is likely to attract the headlines during the election. For the point about policy ideas such as these is that they embody new kinds of thinking about the relationship between the government, society and the individual. These are not yet the dominant themes of progressive politics.