The contempt that the two main parties are held in

Anyone seen any political posters up in windows and gardens etc? I’ve been around a few constituencies and have seen one placard – for the Tory candidate for Redditch – in a field on the edge of her territory, and that’s it. The general lack of enthusiasm for this election at least in part explains the otherwise mystifying popularity of Mr Clegg; anything but the other two. Votes for our two main parties have reduced massively since 1992, down from nearly 26 million to just over 18 million in 2005; my guess is that it will be down again this time. Interestingly it hasn’t been the Lib Dems who have been the gainers (their vote in 92 was not far short of 6m, more than 2005), but the “other” parties. My guess is that Nigel Farage, Caroline Lucas and maybe even that charming Mr Griffin would have been as popularly received as Nick Clegg, had they been offered the chance to debate.