They haven't called an election yet, but it is already in full swing.

Every day we get bigger and better promises from each of the political parties.  By all accounts, no matter who wins every family in the country is going to be awash with money and we shall all live happily ever after.

Sadly, there are sad fuckers out there who actually believe all those promises.  They will wait to see who promises the most and then vote for them and will then be surprised when they end up being fleeced once again with more taxes.

Irish politics is very simple.  There is just one party which has three or more names.  No matter which gate you go through you will end up in the same field.  This one party has core principles which must be adhered to at all costs – Europe is supreme, look after big business and fuck the poor sod at the bottom of the ladder.  It is that simple.  The system cannot be changed because they control the system.  Last time around they made big promises to reform the system and what did we get?  A referendum on the minimum age of a presidential candidate and something about abolishing the Seanad.  Having done that they simply carried on screwing the little fella, stuffing their pockets and appointing their pals into highly paid jobs.

The country is in a stinking rotten mess.  The health service is beyond a joke.  We have the worst record of waiting times in Europe.  Every week or so we hear of yet another massive payout of millions in damages to some unfortunate who was a victim of their system.  We had a doctor who couldn't tell an ankle from an elbow.  A woman was left for seven years believing she had caused the death of her baby because she had smoked during pregnancy when it was the hospitals fault all along.

We also have  massive homeless crisis.  Those who were sucked into the property bubble now find themselves evicted from their homes by the banks.  They move into rented accommodation only to be evicted again because of massive hikes in rents.  And the gubmint wants to introduce a moxy load of refugees into this mess?

They talk about our miraculous recovery from the bailout days, but those of us living ordinary lives have seen precious little of it.  The only thing that has changed is a series of new taxes reefing us at every turn.

I nearly forgot to mention one little change they did make to the "system".

There is now a mechanism whereby each constituency has to put forward a certain percentage of women candidates.

That's right.  No matter how poorly qualified, a woman can get on the ticket to fill the quota [not that any of them are qualified anyway].  A pair of tits and you're up for election.  Just look at the fine specimens of womanhood we have had in the past – Mary "Mad Cow" Harney, Mary "The Bully" Hannafin, Lucinda "Bimbo" Creighton, Joan "The Screech" Burton to name but a few.

If they are representative of the women we have to look forward to then we are well and truly fucked.