In case you hadn’t realised, politics and politicians in this country really get me going.

Here we essentially have six parties.

There’s Fianna Fáil. They are steeped in republicanism and corruption. They claim to be clearing the latter up, but we keep getting new revelations. OK, they have done some good things in the past but they have an abysmal record on others.

There are the little matters like the e-voting system that nobody wanted, it didn’t work and cost us fifty to sixty million. There was the “Bertie Bowl” which again cost millions and got nowhere. They have ploughed billions into the health system and it’s as bad as ever. They are doing nothing about the state monopolies like Eircom and VHI. The list is endless.

Fianna Fáil effectively went to the dogs when Jack Lynch left.

Then there are the Progressive Democrats. People might be fooled into thinking that they are a separate political party, but they are so far up Fianna Fáil’s backside that they are essentially one and the same.

Fine Gael could be promising, but they don’t differ that much from Fianna Fáil when it comes to policies. In fact it is very hard to find out what their policies are.

Fine Gael went to the dogs after Garrett Fitzgerald left.

Labour are another quiet horse. You don’t hear much from them so I can’t really comment.

Sinn Féin are a relative newcomer. But they are a one policy party – if its not about the North, they aren’t really interested.

The Greens are fine in that they seem to be the only party that actually have ideas. But they are so small that they can’t really count in the scheme of things.

We have an election coming up this year.

It is going to be the same old bun-fight – lots of hot air and accusations and Fianna Fáil taking credit for everything from the motorways to last Summer’s heatwave. And tatty posters covering everything. And gougers calling to the door shoving waste paper at you. And tons more waste paper coming through the letterbox.

In fact Fine Gael have already started but at a level that scares me. Remember the old days in the playground?

“Play with me. Don’t play with him because he’s a f*cki’ eejit”

That is the level of Fine Gael’s opening salvo. God help us.

Why can’t we have real politics in this country? Why can’t we have a party that comes up with something that is new, radical and refreshing and that works? Why can’t we forget the past and in particular the Civil War?

Where are Ubi Dwyer and Ming the Merciless when you need them?

By a quirk of fate, just after I posted the above piece, I came across Kevin Rafter’s Blog. I rest my case M’lud.