The last few days before the General Election

Still no sense of any coming Moment of Destiny in my neck of the woods. All the local contenders - Conservative, Labour, LibDem and Green - have popped leaflets through my front door, so I do know who's who. But they all remain unknowns as real people, and I expect I will settle down in front of my TV late on Thursday 12th December still without any insight as to which local candidate is likely to prove a great MP for the Arundel and South Downs constituency.

I have their mission statements, potted biographies and photos - that's all. You don't, of course, vote for somebody because they are prepared to endorse their party line, and have a nice smiley face. If you did, anybody presentable could get themselves adopted as a candidate. Why, I might end up standing myself! No, you vote for the party they are representing, and hope for the best.

I suppose it must have been possible to attend a political meeting in the constituency, and see one or more of these people in real life. I could still do it. But I'm not that interested in politics, and I can't help feeling that if I did show up, I would stand out as a 'new face' and be badgered to become a party member. No thank you.

But I will be voting. I always vote if I possibly can, national and local elections both, unless it's something I think is a waste of time, such as choosing some local Commissioner for this or that. I vote as a matter of principle: the right to vote is precious, and was historically hard-won. It's the only significant thing the ordinary citizen can do to boot out an incompetent or sleazy government, and give someone else a chance to do better. Or in this instance, to alter the make-up of the House of Commons sufficiently to give one or other party a clear working majority so that important things can get done.

A lot of people I know are going to vote how I will. An equal number in my circle are going to vote differently. A few will no doubt vote tactically for candidates they wouldn't normally support, to block the way for someone they definitely don't want elected. All this is fine and healthy. Everyone has their good reasons, maybe very personal reasons, for choosing this or that party.

What I don't like to see are people who propose to waste their vote, and not bother to turn up at the polling station when they so easily could. Or haven't registered to vote in the first place. What are they thinking of? If you don't vote at all, it subverts the process by making it easier for a party to get in by getting most votes out of a small number cast.

That's how union meetings once worked, shop stewards and other officials getting elected by tiny numbers of voters. Or going back two hundred years, how voting in the average parliamentary constituency (and especially in the infamous Rotten Boroughs) was so easily rigged. Proper democracy needs a lot of voters to produce a credible and fully representative result, even in a 'first past the post' system.

So I can't agree with people who say 'the system is broken' or 'it's all a farce' or 'I'm not voting until they introduce Proportional Representation' or 'Why further the careers of insincere people you dislike and don't trust?' These are all valid personal reasons for being dissatisfied with the way we elect governments in this country, but not reasons for opting out and washing one's hands of the entire business. I don't think anybody should walk away from this basic responsibility, any more than one should dodge out of jury service.

Apparently it's perfectly legal to spoil your voting paper - that is, turn up at the Polling Station, say who you are, then write 'A plague on your houses'  or 'I think our parliamentary democracy is a joke' or 'None of these candidates appeals to me' or 'I'd vote for Lloyd George, but not these idiots' on the paper, before you fold it and pop it in the box. It will be counted as a 'spoiled paper' and increase the number of votes cast - which makes it harder for any candidate to get that winning number of votes. In its way it's truly a 'protest vote' - with a personal message, not simply a cross in a box. Way better than doing nothing, and pretending that you are just too cool and sophisticated to take part.

A big issue in this election has been Trust, with the entire focus on Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn - a highly dangerous focus if you ask me. It's not just about them. No government is a one-man band. What about their teams - are there strong people close to them who will counterbalance any wayward traits in the party leader? Are the leaders themselves just puppets, the nice face fronting a ruthless party apparatus in the background, full of hard-liners, who will hold their leader hostage?

I don't think it matters that Boris (for instance) is too free with his facts and figures, and prone to making big promises that he might not keep. We are surely not children. We can see through the puffery. They are advertising their wares, hoping we will buy. It's an unregulated market, and they can say what they like. But so long as we observe the maxim caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) and take all the insincerity with a pinch of salt, and a knowing wink, the exaggerations and extravagant promises will be recognised for what they are. In any case, no government can ever deliver on all their pledges. There isn't the parliamentary time; there isn't the money; and world events will probably distract and divert.

The thing you can trust about Boris is that in the end he will be true to himself. You need to read his character, and decide what - given a working majority - might be achieved under his watch. And the same for anybody else you might consider.

I personally think that this ambitious, loose-talking person with untidy hair, who fibs and exaggerates, and regularly betrays attitudes that get under the skin of so many ordinary people, is nevertheless likely to push through some worthwhile projects. He's a hustler. His main rival may be a Man of the People, and a Man of High Principle, but he just sits on the fence.

But the outcome of the General Election in a few day's time can't be predicted. It's all down to how people in general cast their vote, and that's not at all easy to guess.

I'm looking forward to staying up through the night, as Dad and I used to do, and as I still do every time, watching the results come in and the picture building up. It'll be like viewing a slow-motion Grand National. I expect some well-known names to fall, punished by the electorate for being obstructive or pedantic or just out of tune with the real concerns of people in their constituencies. It may be that one or other party will be badly mauled. There are bound to be some big surprises. It definitely won't be boring.

It'll be the kind of Election Entertainment that appeals to me. I scorn watching those TV Debates, which are nothing but an exchange of sound bites in front of a studio audience. I really don't know why the compère doesn't chip in with witty asides, and score them all with Major Cash Prizes in mind. It's confrontational nonsense. It's demeaning to the participants and trivialises the election process. Mind you, to many in this country, it makes that process bearable and even enjoyable. They haven't read the manifestos, and won't bother to vote, but they did watch the party leaders fluff their lines, spill their water, split their pants, fart at a crucial moment, and generally behave like fools. What a circus.