THE excitement about the elections and the will-they, won’t-they drama of who will form the new government reminds us just how drab our own cabal of political parties are.
While the vote was down across Northern Ireland, it was up across the rest of the UK – a coincidence? I think not.
But then can you blame local voters from not bothering to turn out to the polls?
The overwhelming message I got from talking to the public was there’s no-one worth voting for here.
Then followed by the question why can’t I vote for Labour, Lib Dems or the Tories?
It can’t be denied that politics in Northern Ireland remains tribal and sectarian in nature.
A friend pointed out that people should be able to vote without pressure at polling stations, but when he arrived to cast his vote he was greeted by people wearing Celtic shirts handing out fliers at the door of the polling station.
Hardly the spirit of impartiality.
Then we have the fact that the issues that matter to the parties here aren’t always the same ones that matter to the voters.
How many times have we heard that the Assembly has been suspended because the parties are disagreeing about something or other?
It’s not without coincidence that their pay never seems to be suspended though.
While parties threaten to bring down the system over issues like the Irish Language Act or whether they can march down a street to celebrate triumphalism, we are left worrying about putting food on the table and wondering if we’re going to be able to pay the mortgage this month or even if we’ll have a job in a few weeks.
This election should have represented an opportunity to make a difference but when we saw the same old faces, saying the same old things there was a widespread feeling of what’s the point?
As someone once said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.