A COUPLE of years ago, I wrote a piece about how bland and homogenised the music world had become with the rise and rise of the X Factor, in the same way the political parties had become much of a muchness.

Back then, in the heady days of 2012, the most interesting thing on the political menu was the bizarre albino teddy-bear Mayor of London with designs on leading the Tory party. A bumbling fop, loved by the people for his affable gaffes and comical, rumpled appearance, but a potential threat to the Conservative leadership.

I thought of that column again this weekend, when another annual ‘musical’ event saw millions of people around the globe tune in to watch shiny happy popsters sing indecipherable lyrics while performing dances that wouldn’t usually be seen outside the most seedy of gentlemen’s clubs.

As anyone who reads the nationals or watched Eurovision knows, the winner was Conchita Wurst – a Russell Brand lookalike who was highlighted as a laughing stock by the papers prior to the event, and consequently saw public awareness and chances of winning rise along with the column inches.

By making Wurst the talking point, if only to say "LOOK AT THIS!", the redtops and broadsheets pretty much guaranteed Austria would emerge victorious – a fact driven home by the British judges giving Wurst maximum points.

Which brings me back to this year’s batch of politicians getting ready for the big election less than a year away.

Admittedly, the field is much the same as it was two years ago. Call Me Dave is still trying to convince the public he’s a man of the people – I even saw a picture of him eating at Nando’s the other day. How adorable, he really is just like us. He even gets enraged like normal people do. 

Remember when near-the-knuckle comedian Jimmy Carr was found to have taken part in a tax avoidance scheme and Cameron called his actions “morally repugnant”?

Such anger and ferocity must be admired, especially in a Prime Minister, although I can’t quite understand why he’s not more upset about the exact same revelations that recently came to light about Conservative donor and supporter Gary Barlow…

Meanwhile in the other two parties, Clegg’s still Clegg, except he's trying to distance himself from Call Me Dave and he's got fewer people listening now, and Miliband’s still Miliband only somehow with even less to say.

But the latest contender, the one getting all the press and being held up as both laughing stock and real alternative to the major parties, is the one that probably shouldn’t be mentioned in print for fear of a visit to The Press from the boys in blue.

(In case you didn't hear, in the last week, police were sent to the home of a blogger who tweeted a fact-checked list of a certain party’s controversial policies and voting record.)

However, in the spirit of political fairness, I am duty bound to mention UKIP and their leader Nigel Farage.

It’s been pointed out many times that the party isn’t racist, so I’m not going to do that.

All I want to say is that Farage has been given so much airtime and ink that the public is no longer unable to ignore the party. Their bold, no-holds-barred announcements are so radical and different to the beige mutterings of the ConDems and Labour’s near-silence that they stand out like a woman with a beard.

UKIP is a legitimate political party, we're repeatedly told, so why shouldn't they have as much attention as they can grab? Mockery doesn't hurt them, and Farage is happy to go on panel shows to take a ribbing, because he knows that every second he's on there grinning and bearing it, there's someone out there watching, half paying attention, and thinking: "He's all right, this guy. Certainly better than that other lot. Maybe I should give him a go."

Yes, I'm probably over-simplifying it. No, I haven't included all the political parties. And yes, I'm aware I've just written hundreds of words and thereby made the situation worse.

All I'm saying is it's our duty to check out the quality of the acts out there before making our mark, and not necessarily vote for the loudest one.