Now that the election has been announced and the politicians have scurried back to their constituencies, the political shape of Britain is in for a big shake up. Will there be a hung parliament? Can Gordon cling onto power? Will the Conservatives regain power? These are all important questions that will be answered on Thursday 6th May, but I think there is a more important question: can anyone be bothered anymore?

This may be an important election for the future of our economy and public services but some people on the political scene seem to think the result is entirely predictable and the 4 weeks of campaigning are going to be utterly under whelming. In a recent interview with Vanessa Feltz on BBC London Boris Johnson suggested that if one went away for 3 weeks and came back nothing in the opinion polls would have changed and the Tories would win.

In the wake of the expenses scandal and the “MP’s for hire” debacle, many ordinary voters have become disenchanted with politics and politicians and will either stay at home or give a protest vote. One member of the public said on a radio phone-in show that: “Labour, the Tories and the Lib-Dems are all the same, they have nothing to offer to me as a voter. The only choice for me now is whether to stay at home or vote for a smaller party.” When a reporter for BBC Radio 4 went out onto the street to gauge how people would vote, he came across several protest voters, including a woman who said, “The economy’s in ruins and none of the main parties are doing anything. I’m going to vote BNP to give the main parties a reality check.”

There is clearly a lot of discontent with the main political parties but some do fear that with so many people voting for smaller parties, the country could wake up on May 7th to a hung parliament with no party having an overall majority. Lord Hesseltine, the experienced Tory politician said a hung parliament was “very likely”. But what is so bad about a hung parliament? The economy is in a bad way and without a decisive government to take action the recovery could be at risk. As William Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup so neatly put it, “all bets are off [for a strong recovery], … should there be a hung parliament”. Clearly some people are hoping that voters will come out and vote in a majority government.

As you can see there is a big division amongst voters and analysts as to what they think would be best for the country, but one thing is for certain, there is still a lot of discussion about the election. Clearly some people can be bothered.