I have very little time for Russell Brand – I think it must be my age. I find him mildly irritating – like razor burn. But I do acknowledge that he is no fool – he is clearly very intelligent.

Jeremy Paxman on the other hand is equally cerebral – and a political bruiser. I quite like him – but only when in combative style.

So the revelation that Paxman agrees with Brand on the future of politics caught my eye. I didn’t see the interview but understand Brand was berating politicians for trotting out the same old same old – but getting progressively worse. He said he had never voted because of “absolute indifference and weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class“.

Initially Paxman picked a fight – but this week has announced that he too didn’t vote at the last election and he had a message for the next,

“At the next election we shall have a choice between the people who’ve given us five years of austerity, the people who left us this mess, and the people who signed public pledges that they wouldn’t raise student fees, and then did so – the most blatant lie in recent political history“

We value our freedom in this country and I am a firm believer in democracy. But you do have to wonder about how much influence we really have. I think you’ll conclude ‘none’ if you think about it long enough!