The UK political system is a lot more sinister than this article makes out. Both Tories and New Labour are in the pockets of big business. The reason why nobody with a brain can be bothered to vote is because it's the system that's the problem not just the parties.

John Lilburen, London,

Are high property prices to blame? In England, particularly the south, everyone lives precariously and craves stability that leads to craven pandering to dull "stabilising" politics. Prices are lower in Scotland and in France... and politics... and people... can afford to have more of a soul.

Joe, brussels, belgium

What makes you think this is going to change? You raise the Brown dilemma, or is it a study, as though it is a cul de sac. I think it is more likely to be increasingly typical. The problem is the freedom of speech we have in this country. You are free to speak without need to relate that speech logically or to the visible facts, but you must stick to the PC environment. The consequence is that no one knows quite what may be going on and the wordsmiths rule. Your article is a good example of the current genre. Nobody is going to commit themselves a priori to this mélange. Either they get caught up in it, probably initially against their better judgement, or they give it a wide berth.

Henry Percy, London, UK

And who has been sitting there doing its best to close down open discussion - who has more actively pursued the politics of personality and celebrity. Who has poured ridicule and scorn on politicians and activists generally.

It couldn't be the UK media could it?

Try challenging orthodoxy and watch the person concerned get torn apart - while some half wittted football player or cricketer who earns seven figures a year because he can (sometimes) kick a football or wield a bat and looks good in dark sunglasses and Italian clothes is lauded.

What honest person would want to expose themselves to this sort of open contempt.

H, London,

Our system is becomomnig much like america. It started during Thatcher's reign as she became more presidential, and Blair and co have taken it to the same extreme as in America about 20 years ago. It can only get worse (not better).

I trust Ms Miles means the press and the establishment when she says "When people do put themselves forward as leaders, we jeer and hector them. We moan. We whine. We dissect their personalities .... " because we (the people) don't have a say in the world of professional industrialised politics.

Neil Murphy, cromer,

"When people do put themselves forward as leaders, we jeer and hector them. We moan. We whine."

Very true. In France, François Bayrou 'lost' by British standards, in that he now has a 0% chance of becoming the next President. Yet the French see this as a victory - his high percentage puts him in a strong position for the next time in five years. If he was a Conservative, there would be no next time: he would have been fired from the top post by now.

The reason for this? The respect for ideas present in France. There was no smear campaign against him; instead his rivals showed that they were better than him. They built themselves up, rather than knocking him down. Here, as you say, is argument.

BW, France,

I think Alice is dead right. John Cruddas is the only option. If only he was in Gordon's place. People don't know who John is but he seems very honest and approachable

martin shiels, bedford,

Who are you kidding. You in the media wanted all three parties to hold center-left views which you try to pretend is the 'center ground'.

If 12% voted for Le Pen here and another 30%+ for the rightist Sarkozy you lot would force the government to arrest the population and charge them with racism/fascism/nazism and being evil.

There aren't enough English people left in London to vote for anything other than the status quo, and the rest of Southern and urban GB is heading the same way.

Enjoy.

xxxCORRECTxxx, London, England

Fabulous article, sums up our pathetic excuse for demoncracy very well!

I intend to watch Jon Cruddas' career with great interest. He is the only person left in Labour who seems able to think outside the New Labour box and actually comment on what he sees in front of him not what the politicians wish to see.

Jenny, London,

Perhaps you have the classic British pessimism coursing through your veins as well, Alice. Could it not be that low voter turnout reflects contentment, rather than dissatisfaction?

France, economically stagnant for a decade or more, in the throes of social unrest on an unprecedented scale, and encountering steep competition in its core markets from a resurgent Eastern Europe... High voter turnout.

Britain, an economic paradigm, leading Europe in high technology and financial services, with a resurgent geo-political standing on the global stage... Low voter turnout.

Mark, Woking, UK

France has its advantages and the turnout was admirable. But remember this: ten percent of the turnout voted for a fascist party.

Would the UK electorate as a whole do likewise?

Tony G, brum, uk

The only problem with reducing government management of the minutiae of our lives is - what do we do with all of the civil servants that new labour hired to police their directives. They would have to find some real work to do and earn a living for a change.

KR, Stockport,

It's all very well wishing for more extreme politics, but let's just look at the state of the French economy, shall we? Its taxes, its crumbling institutions - created by years of 'ideologically-committed' politicians trying their own thing. Give me the cautious centre ground any day - it doesn't matter that it makes politics less interesting, it makes life more stable.

Carolyn, Oxford,

Zut alors! I’m sick of brainless Journalism!!

The number of articles about the French (see TGV article) that start with Mon Dieu! Zut Alors! or with some reference to Allo' Allo' etc. etc. is quite frankly alarming. Just highlighting the inherent xenophobia in the "most fair-minded society in the world" (tm).

Jon Kingsbury, Southampton, UK

Chinese elections could be the next big thing.

Warminster, Warminster, UK

This has been occuring since 1997, when a large number of conservatives jumped benches to New Labour, (rats and sinking ships anyone), I have far more respect for the Tories who went down with the ship and stood on thier priciples. this country should be run by representatives , in other words they represent the electorate in government. many of them seem to have forgotten this and endlessly say anything to get elected. I agree with this article entirely, though 1 question remains , how does it get fixed? do we throw out all the current politicians and elect new ones? possibly too radical but it might just work.

Ben, Folkestone, kent

One thing we don't have in France is aggressive interviewers like Jeremy Paxman or John Humphreys. Watching French politicians interviewed by French journalists is pretty boring; journalists have been to the same "grandes écoles" as the politicians, and it is probably fair to say that there is a kind of politico-media establishment which decides what us proles can hear. And I'm sure the televised Royal-Sarkozy debate on May 2nd will be a pretty stilted affair too. A lot of French people have found the campaign dull because there has been no real confrontation, of candidates or ideas.

Stephen, Nantes, France

Hurrrrah. When resigning as Chairman of my local Conservative Association in January 2007 I stated, in my view, the lack of interest in politics and poor election turn outs were the direct result of a lack of "politics."
Shame on the political parties.
However, they are creatures of the press who demean and blow-up every difference highlighting selective comments/issues and who refuse to report the details and arguments in case their customers get bored. This is a media/political pact made in hell. Unfortunately we both serve a switched off electorate; our joint challenge is to turn them on again!!!!!

Colin MacMillan, Redditch, Worcs

I totally agree with the article.Unless the Tories have the courage to put forward genuine Tory policies to address the key issues facing British society here is one life long Tory who will not be voting for them.

R G James, Brasschaat, belgium

Alice ; you have summed up Britain & the British succinctly.
The voting public expects the government to "do" something , anything to "fix " their problems.
Nowhere in the debate are Britons freedoms explored or deemed worthy of expansion. Neglected is any sense of individual's responsibility for their own lives and the governments responsibility to beef up those freedoms.
The litany of ever greater Big Brother government under Blair is endless, from cameras monitoring , policing of people's homes for smokers,idiotic political correctness, irresponsible immigration with importation of third world ideologies shredding society, speed cameras and bumps , egalitarian school policies that discount differences in intelligence and life paths,tax ,tax and more tax for a collapsing socialist health system , long past its sell-by date. Its endless.
When are Britons going to rise up and take their lives back ? A land fit for heroes ??-I think not.

will knight, orange county, california usa