I'VE long had a suspicion that politics is a dull game. Having to cope with constituents who want you to fix something over which you have no control. All those committees, all those yawn-inducing Assembly/Dáil sessions where representatives posture and preen and congratulate themselves and their leader

That’s the weary everyday of politics. But during elections, everything changes. Politicians seek out constituents and ask them to do something (vote for them) as distinct from vice-versa. There’s the competitive nature of an election, as you eye up the opposition canvassers and wonder if the voters like them or you better. There’s the hell of defeat or the heaven of a win.

This last week or so, politics in different places have received a charge of electricity, as votes have been solicited. 

In Britain, the Tory Party selected a new leader in the wake of a number of total duds – Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson. They decided their party was most likely to prosper under the leadership of Kemi Badenock, the sixth Tory leader in eight years. 

Kemi’s victory is historic, in that she may not be the first woman to lead the Tories – Thatcher broke the glass ceiling first and was followed by Theresa May and (crosses himself hastily) Liz Truss. But Kemi certainly is the first black woman and that is kind of amazing, to see a woman of colour at the top of the Tory tree. But with her gender and skin colour Kemi also brings a thorough-going right-wing view of the world. She wants less state involvement in society, she was and remains an ardent Brexiteer, she figures British society needs a root-and-branch re-do. Kemi and the Tory party – a match made in heaven, you might say. But have you noticed that Kemi’s surname is a combination of Bad and Enoch? Just sayin’, like.

Then there’s the US, which will this week witness a momentous election. At the time of writing, the election has still to be held, but by the time you read this it should be over., barring hanging chads and the like. The US will have chosen Donal J Trump, who has boasted about grabbing women by their private parts. It’s hard to believe but millions of Americans – maybe a majority – will vote for this despicable excuse for a human being on Tuesday, and think they’ve done their country a big favour by doing so.

Alternatively they may have voted in Kamala Harris, who at least sounds sane most of the time. She doesn’t look as though she’s going to fall down every time she boards a plane, or lose her train of thought and mumble a salad of stupid words, or drift off into a  political hooley of Greatest Hits.

Finally and most importantly, the south of Ireland will this month almost certainly hold a general election. Oddly, this is unlikely to produce a new government. There’s a depressing possibility that voters will elect a government composed of the two parties, Fine Gael and Fine Fáil, who between them have clung to power in the south for over a hundred years. 

Sinn Féin, for so long streets ahead in the polls, has dipped alarmingly. Latest poll shows Fine Gael at 26 per cent, Fianna Fail at 20 per cent and Sinn Féin at 18 per cent. If that depresses you, don’t forget: opinion polls in 2020 didn’t show SF making mince meat of Fine Gael and Fine Fáil but astonishingly they did just that. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.