It really is the silly season. We have just got over the Santa Marija break (or are getting there), and our politicians have gracefully decided to embark on an exchange of broadsides.

It’s just never ending. The political battlefield seems to have been set for the next general election – Labour slings the mud, PN counters. The next day, PN slings some mud back and Labour counters. It’s all very dreary, rather mundane, repetitive and quite frankly – rather boring.

Don’t the political parties realise that everyone, right down to the iffissati (those who are blinkered) simply don’t care anymore. The way they carry on, you would think that no one had a life to live.

So what does life entail – it means worrying about bills, wondering how you are going to get your kids to school on time, wondering whether they are being taken care of properly, shopping for food at ungodly hours after work, cleaning your house, taking care of finances, worrying about your home, health and life insurance, the cost of living, whether your job is safe and many, many other headaches.

That is what people care about! Not all this trash talk that we hear day after day after day ad nauseum. One wonders whether our politicians think we have nothing better to do than listen to them bitch, moan and procrastinate. Then they also berate each other for bringing up personal issues as political ones. Well, from a mere newspaper (because they don’t seem to listen anyway), here is the truth – when you are a politician, you have no personal life, and well, if you can’t stand the heat – get out of the kitchen.

Politicians are elected by the people to represent their interests. And well, the way things have been going on lately, you would have thought that we voted for Big Brother not the House of Representatives.

We have given a list of the issues which people have at the top of their agenda. If politicians decided to expend half the energy they do in slagging each other off and got on with addressing these issues, then we might make a little more progress. In the past few years we have seen just what we are capable of when we put our minds to it. That is why people get so frustrated when they see and hear such behaviour. Quite frankly they are quite disgusted and they have every right to be. John and Mary of this country have expectations. They were told just how much life will improve in this country – and it has by Jove, but that does not mean that people can do up a few roads or rebuild a few churches and expect the people to sit quietly and watch this election debacle unfold.

People want good governance and good leadership from the government in office. At the same time, they want good constructive criticism from the opposition, just like anywhere else in the world. In most other countries such mud slinging campaigns are a novelty and raise much interest in the news. Alas, not so for Lilliput. It has got so bad here that people actually raise their eyebrows in surprise when there is the odd moment of consensus and the two parties work together. Come on guys, grow up. Give us a good old fashioned contest built on doable and achievable things. Leave the slinging for the house, at least no one listens to you in there.