politicians

THE party political season is here and it is all very important. We should concentrate and not let our thoughts wander along the winding lanes of trivial distraction.

So, Winston Churchill was a politician and he had a wife called Clementine, a name often serenaded in song by Huckleberry Hound -- a childhood hero of mine. (Sorry, but I cannot help the way my mind works).

Huck, some of you may remember, was a blue cartoon dog with a southern drawl, voiced by Daws Butler, which provided a unique tone when he sang, very badly, about his darlin' Clementine.

To my everlasting shame, I once caused great distress to a young female music teacher when I led the class in a Huckleberry-esque rendition of this famous old American song.

But where is he now?

This hero, who did so much to mould the character I am today, featured in 57 cartoons between 1958 and 1962 but there has never been a revival.

I am waiting for the day when some Hollywood mogul has a moment of inspiration and produces Huckleberry Hound: The Movie for viewing in multiplexes by the popcorn-munching masses.

The 30-minute television shows by producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera also featured characters such as Yogi Bear, Pixie & Dixie and Mr Jinks -- all once endlessly re-cycled on television, but from what I can see the Huckleberry Hound Show has now all-but disappeared.

This is a shame, and the politicians should do something about it. That is, if they are able to do anything in the uneasy political climate.

Supporters of all our parties find it harder to believe in the old certainties as Labour continues to ignore its traditional base, the Tories flounder in a confused no-man's land and the Liberal Democrats target Conservative seats whilst appearing further left than Labour. No wonder we are all confused -- we knew where we were with Huckleberry Hound.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has won two landslide victories for "New Labour" and now finds himself in all sorts of trouble -- much of it resulting from the decision to invade Iraq.

It is not certain that this astonishingly successful politician will be around to lead the party to a third term, but he has already made his mark.

Roy Hattersley, who was once deputy leader of the Labour Party, saw what was going on in 1997 when he wrote: "The prophets of New Labour succeeded where the Militant tendancy had failed. They took over an established political party and re-created it in their own image."

These days the battle is being fought once more for the hearts and minds of the middle class and, six years on, the apathy party is entirely in the ascendency.

There is a sense -- fed by overpoweringly negative coverage in the national media -- that all politicians are conniving, dishonest and useless.

If we allow ourselves to believe this our democracy -- like Clementine -- will be lost and gone forever.