WITH Poldark back on the television, déjà vu drama is in fashion, but that’s not the only area of life when there is a sense of things already seen.

Politics is having its retrospective moment too. Two of the current arguments concern grammar schools and the ban on hunting – that’s when the choreographed grumbling hasn’t been about David Cameron’s refusal/utter helpfulness over taking part in a TV debate (delete according to whether or not you are the Prime Minister).

First let’s look at that TV debate. Last time round, Mr Cameron was full of enthusiasm for the gladiatorial contest; on this occasion, he is lukewarm to the point of a thermometer being required. Why the change of heart?

Well, the cynical view – and it does pay to keep hold of your scepticism when approaching Mr Cameron – is that as leader of the Opposition, he had much to gain from such contests; while as the sitting Prime Minister the debates are of little benefit to him, and a head-to-head with Ed Miliband might even give the Labour leader a chance to shine.

A loftier view is that the TV debates tried out in 2010 were never intended to be a permanent fixture. To this the best answer is that they should become so: the debates were popular last time round, and why shouldn’t the politicians who wish to run the country stand up to a bit of TV scrutiny?

Mr Cameron has weaved and dodged on this issue, intentionally introducing complications and compromises, and he looks slippery. His suggestion for a seven-way debate between leaders was, surely, only ever raised because the Conservative strategists knew that two things would happen. Either the debate would go ahead and be pointless; or the whole thing would collapse amid poisonous wrangling.

A strange aspect to all this is that Mr Cameron is a very confident TV performer, and is generally perceived to get the better of Mr Miliband at PMQs. So what’s he worried about?

There is talk among broadcasters of going ahead with the debates anyway and leaving a gap to represent Mr Cameron – a prospect which has given rise to the expression that they wish to “empty chair” the Prime Minister, a notion I rather like.

If we are going to have these debates, and I think we should, then it is not up to Downing Street to dictate the rules.

By the time the debates arrive, Mr Cameron won’t be the Prime Minister in essence – he will be the leader of the Conservative Party who wishes to govern again. And as such, he should go on television and explain himself and argue the electoral toss with Mr Miliband; shouldn’t he?

As for the other topics of the moment, Mr Cameron’s pledge for a free vote on a repeal of the Hunting Act is a bit of pre-election politicking, and an attempt to revive the old rural Tory vote. Ten years ago, much more time than was sensible was spent debating this matter, and it is said that 80 per cent of the public now believe that fox hunting should remain banned. So let’s all move on.

Grammar schools are a more complicated matter, revived yet again because they still exist in Kent, where locals wish to expand the schools, and because Ukip promises a grammar school in every town.

This might work for pupils who win a place; but if experience is anything to go on, everyone forgets the pupils who suffer rejection. Anyway, as an old grammar school boy, I think this is misguided nostalgia.

Mr Cameron dodged the issue this week by promising more free schools instead. The closer you get to an election, the faster politicians pedal in an attempt to “prove” that only their party has all the answers – something which rarely proves to be the case.

 

• AN average of 4.4 million people watched BBC2’s Wolf Hall, an adaptation of the novels by Hilary Mantel. This surely suggests there is an appetite for proper, well-made, decent and, yes, at times difficult dramas. Wolf Hall enthralled this viewer from start to finish, and the challenges only made it all the better.

Everything about this production, but especially the acting of Mark Rylance, was wonderful: dark, grainy and muscular, surprisingly thrilling with the slow build-up of tension, and even grimly funny too. More, please.