I thought at one point maybe two years ago that come the election I might vote for Tory for a change.  I wouldn’t like all their policies but as someone who prefers country to town, is proud of being British, fascinated by our history, a royalist at heart, then it could make good sense.

But the Tories today talk endlessly of the broken society, and my problem is that I have a positive take on society and what over the years has been achieved by people at all levels. I also believe in the goodness of human nature, that most people I meet behave honourably or that they will behave honourably if I behave that way toward them, and that goes for all of us with each other.

That said I’m not remotely content with where we are now. There are grave inequalities, inefficiencies, disasters across the country, some deeply embedded in life and the economy . Malice rears its head all too often. While we have the politicians we deserve – we view politicians they way we want to view them, whether or not they deserve it, we have a popular press we don’t deserve, quite without any accountability to anyone apart its owners and their desire to push agendas, readership and profits.

And yet, does that any or all of that add up to a broken society? Even the press has its good points.

Cameron with his ex News of the World press officer pushes an agenda the popular press laps up, whether true or not.  He was expected to say last Tuesday (and I believe did say): “The broken society is not one thing alone. It is not just the crime. It is a whole stew of violence, anti-social behaviour, debt, addiction, family breakdown, educational failure, poverty and despair.”

My response to that is that it’s shameful, arrant rubbish.

That’s why in a nutshell I can’t vote Tory.