By the time you read this column you will know, or be well on the way to knowing, who are your new leaders in the next Parliament on 18th May.

The date has been declared; 6th May is Polling Day. Recently Gordon popped along to visit Her Majesty at the Palace and asked her would she kindly, when she had a spare moment, mind dissolving Parliament?
‘Delighted’ Elizabeth said sweetly, ‘Just as quickly as you can say Alka-Seltzer,’ adding with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, `Would you like us Royals to come back and show you how it’s done?’

Gordon was miffed at this suggestion and didn’t like the joke. ‘No thanks’ he said, ‘I’ve got enough trouble with that Cameron and the Tories trying to steal my job without the Windsors sticking their oar in. By the way your Majesty, are you related to the Royal Family in Liverpool, the ones with the worn out sofa and enormous telly? It’s just that there are distinct similarities; both families seem to sit around a lot, don’t do any work and are never short of cash.’

A record 150 MPs will not be standing for re-election this time around. Some have reached the natural end of their political tenure. Many more are retiring because they were publically disgraced in the Expenses scandal and haven’t got a cat in hells chance of being forgiven by their outraged constituency voters.

In the midst of all this there are those MPs hard-faced enough to quietly stand again whilst still under investigation, some are crying, `mea culpa’ , others plead ‘stitch-up’ and yet others, ‘my constituency party is standing by me so it’s all right to have another go’.

All of the latter were guilty of the eleventh commandment, ‘Thou shalt not get caught’.

The election campaign seems to have been dragging on since the New Year, what with the continual sniping and barbs thrown from both parties at the slightest opportunity.

The talk of a possible hung Parliament has made life a little more interesting for the Lib Dems and the devolved Parliament parties. All of these groups are working on strategies to gain the maximum political price for their minimal Parliamentary presence and support.

What I do find disappointing is the apathy I hear amongst our general public. Remarks like, ‘One Party is as bad the other’ and, `They’re all tarred with the same brush’ are all too commonplace.

But saddest of all is when the electorate, yes, us, the voters, feel that the current batch of Politicians on the ballot paper on 6th May are so far removed from our hopes and expectations that our biggest emotion is apathy. This being the case, why bother to turn out to vote at all?