The idea that a braying clown like Farage could be taken seriously as an alternative protest vote party leader, instead of being laughed out of town while tied to the wrong end of a lame donkey with an unfortunate illness, is evidence of the contempt with which the fixers hold the electorate.

And - sadly - rightly so. If the voters had a braincell between them they'd see Farage for the ass he is, and the other tedious posturers for the Punch and Judy show that democracy has become.

Cameron even looks like Mr Punch. He beats up widows on benefits and throws babies out of prams.

Miliband looks like Gromit. Boris looks like his own idea of a Marvel superhero.

God only knows what Clegg looks like - except maybe the human embodiment of Cthulhu's PR manager.

How much more of a clue do we need that it's all for show?