It is amazing how gullible we all are.  Every election is a competition of who can promise us the most.  It starts at the ideology level, the aspirants as opposed to the social engineers. Low tax for high earners to encourage enterprise, versus fair contributions to make the country more equal.

One political Holy Grail is the NHS.  It is a cup that will never be filled, as exponential demand grows with both medical advances and an aging population.  Add to that the enormity of the social care crisis and we can all see that the future at the very least will be contentious.

One side rants about the apparent immediate take over by private enterprise whilst the other denies it. The abolition of private medicine is an ideal of the social engineers, an anathema to the aspirers.  They believe that choice is a fundamental democratic right!  Even if having that choice is dependent on the ability to pay.

The issues are very muddy whatever your politics, but every political party salesman/woman oversimplifies the choice and option. Yet it is obvious that even the definition of the problem and the possible improvements and long term goals are extremely complex.

It is not a matter of how much money our Government throws at these issues. (I will spend more than you!- I hope I have it to spend- who cares?) The problem is ethical, financial, and practical. It is a choice between say, health care and policing, it is the balancing of resources to deliver a civilised society.

And so we return to the political roots of our political system. The Right, Left, Centre, Nationalist and Green. Add to that the notions of national identity and our place in Europe and the picture gets more and more complex.

The history of British politics remains routed in tribal and class identity.  This may well be blurred by the Brexit conundrum. 

It seems to me that certain larger than life politicians, all populists are thriving on oversimplified promises of which there is little chance of delivery.  The sad thing is our gullibility will let in the political fantasies of the fibbers and downright tricksters of this cynical political age.