What a difference 5 years makes. In 2010 there were less than 3.5 million twitter users in the UK. By 2014 there was a reported 15 million tweeters. More people than ever before access news on mobile phones and laptops, and there are more apps available than ever imagined. A quick google search asking “who should I vote for in 2015” provided no fewer than 495,000,000 in less than a second.

Election quizzes are available from news providers such as The Mirror and The Telegraph and all promise to tell us which way to vote based on our answers to some heavily loaded questions.

A 50% rate of tax should be introduced for top earner’s, states one quiz while another asks us to strongly agree or strongly disagree with statements such as All teachers working in the state sector should have a teaching qualification.

This is the age of fast food politics. No longer do we have to watch awful party political broadcasts on behalf of the Grey Party, or read intricate manifestos in the broad sheets. Now we simply have to answer a 5 minute questionnaire and know exactly who to vote far, without even needing to know who leads the party or what will be the consequences of voting for them.

Those of us who prefer to make a more informed decision can watch the leaders debates with the likes of former news night frontman Jeremy Paxman and Kay Burley, who was heckled outside Parliament during the 2010 election by protestors chanting for her to be sacked, guiding proceedings.

If we are looking for less biased opinion we can look on the internet, on sites such as the BBC who have a key policy guide. It tells us that the Tories will triple the number of start-up loans to businesses to 75,000 while Labour will introduce 80,000 new apprenticeships. UKip promises to enhance the UK’s position at the World trade organisation and reduce Britain’s debts.

Less well publicised parties such as George Galloway’s  Respect Party vows to bring all major utilities into public ownership. The Green Party suggests introducing a £10 per hour minimum wage.

Never before have we had such access to all the parties but does this give us a more informed voter or a fooled voter.

At the last election Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg swept to victory in Sheffield after making rock solid promises to the massive student population that he would absolutely not increase tuition fees, only to renege on the promise once in power. Such promises are easy to make when you believe you have virtually no chance of having to keep them.  To make a rather crude comparison it is the equivalent of one telling ones wife “I wouldn’t cheat darling even if Beyoncé knocked on the door”, not necessarily lying but knowing full well that the opportunity will probably never present itself. Unfortunately for the liberals Beyoncé did knock and they were shown to be lacking.

The biggest change this year could be that the electorate has tired of so called Punch and Judy politics. We have become weary of hearing the Nasty sniping’s of the Tories, relentlessly blaming the labour party for the world-wide financial crisis. Just last week a senior Tory minister accused Labour leader Ed Miliband of being a backstabber, claiming he stabbed his brother in the back and will do the same to the country. Even if true, this is not the sort of language we want to hear. Some would say that having the courage to stand against a brother who many considered to be the favourite to get the job, are exactly the qualities a leader should have.

We deserve a proper debate based around core values, not squabbles and scare mongering but policy not personal attacks. While the Green Party may be living in a utopian unfunded world of ideals at least they are not stooping to the levels of the often yobbish behaviour of the other main parties.  I say it’s time we had dignity in discussion and open dialogue about the things that matter to us the most. The language politician’s use is often disingenuous - designed to not answer the question at all or leave the less well educated punter not understanding what they have heard. Plain talking in layman’s terms would change the political landscape for the better and give the electorate a fighting chance of getting who they asked for.

The danger is that we listen to vox pops on the news or read the headline in a right wing news-paper and give our allegiance to the one most presentable policy a party has. I spoke to an elderly retired postal worker recently who told me he intended voting UKIP, because they were the only party serious about immigration. I challenged him by saying that UKIP wants to weaken worker’s rights and would help the Conservatives crush the trade unions. His response was simply that he no longer works so it doesn’t affect him while a family of Somalians moving in next door does. This I fear is typical of many voters’ attitudes, unable to see the wood for the trees. There is now so much rubbish written and spoken by our politicians and news readers that it is virtually impossible to know who to believe. For this reason it is likely that there will be no clear winner on May 7^th.

 It looks increasingly like yet another coalition giving us another 5 years at least of tit for tat and holding to ransom. Will it be labour and the SNP trying desperately not to keep the UK together or will it be another half decade of Tory/ lib Dem rule?  There is even suggestion recently that there could be a Labour/ Tory coalition. If Dave and Ed are in the rose garden on 8^th of May then there could be a real lesson to be learnt.