Oh dear, I’ve just dipped into UK “General Election world”. Wish I hadn’t.

I see Labour are already blaming their inevitable loss on BBC bias rather than their unelectable, anti-semitic, terrorist-sympathising, anti-West, 1970s-era Marxist leader.

I see the Lib Dems think they will win by being dreadfully liberal about the definition of “woman” by opening it up to men, and dreadfully Democratic by ignoring the result of the referendum.

Does Swinson think she can self-ID as the PM so as to not have to worry about wining?

And I see it’s increasingly likely the Tories will now win despite a leader no-one trusts and most know is a Charlatan, “say anything to anyone” snake-oil salesman.

God, I miss the good old days when our parties were lead by statesmen and not political pygmies.

I went to a school reunion recently: someone told me their abiding memory was me giving a “lesson” to students on competing ideologies and authoritarianism versus liberalism. I drew diagrams to explain it. I was 14. Another told me it was the school strike I organised.

I’ve been active in politics since my 20s and obsessed with politics since before I was a teenager. I used to debate whether Bobby Sands was a hero or a terrorist with my family. I would have been 11. I’ve studied it, worked in it and lived it for 40 yrs.

But this election leaves me cold.

The system is broken and needs fixing.

I just don’t yet have the solution to the problem clear in my head, but it has to start with asking what kind of country do we want to be.

Neo-liberalism is failing. But Socialism isn’t the answer.

Democracy is failing. But Authoritarian populism isn’t the answer.

Parliament isn’t working. But Scrapping-it isn’t the answer.

The Union isn’t working. But breaking it up isn’t the answer.

The EU isn’t working. But THIS Brexit isn’t the answer.

I can only see the problems. What I can’t see at the moment is what the answers are.

We can’t be of any use to the rest of the world until we sort ourselves out.

And we really really need to sort ourselves out. Or else the decline we are experiencing will only accelerate.