OUR TV schedules and newspapers are full of it. Social media and online debates are almost too hot to handle. Political manoeuvring is in full swing, like a chess competition on speed.

A national six-week election campaign leaves the candidates for re-election in a precarious position. With every sentence, diary commitment, social meeting scrutinised hourly, the blood pressure of hopeful candidates must be through the roof.

Several hopefuls must have lost more than a night’s sleep over newspaper comments. Those who are spending airtime discussing others’ failures rather than their own achievements and ambitions are disingenuous.

Over the last Parliament, there has been a considerable set of challenges for any group of politicians to manage: climate change, a global pandemic, soaring interest rates, food poverty and the resilience of the NHS under threat; abroad, war in Europe and the Middle East, threats from North Korea and China play out on our screens. We watch these events unfold, cocooned on these islands into a sense of security. Most of these threats happen to someone else. But, when we see a successful and popular TV personality apparently make a mistake and lose his life on a Greek holiday, we are reminded, starkly, how vulnerable life can be.

We can’t sit back and ‘see what plays out’. We have a responsibility to exercise the privilege we enjoy living in a free society. It is incumbent on us to investigate, read and understand the contents and implications of each party’s election manifesto. It is in our own interest to explore and fully understand the choice we make; not only for the effects on our own personal circumstances, but also for the benefits of our wider community and environment.

The recent celebrations and commemorations of D-Day are a stark reminder of the price paid by so many in order that we have the privilege of a free vote. In a world where democracy, freedom of speech and personal choice is becoming more scarce, we take our privileged position for granted at our peril.