The outcome of next year’s General Election is anybody’s guess. After decades of two-party politics, could coalition governments be here to stay? As the last election showed us, the “democratic majority” is becoming an increasingly nebulous entity. This time round, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are all embroiled in their own distinct battles. Meanwhile, UKIP and the Green Party provide growing threats, and a comedian is taking up the mantle of the revolutionary. But is anyone paying attention?   

Voter turnout at the last election was just 65%. It’s part of a long-term downward trend. Will that figure reach a new low in 2015, despite the anticipation surrounding the election run-up? According to columnist and author Owen Jones, it is resignation, not apathy, that’s plaguing the British public. “The problem is that there’s not much hope at the moment,” he says. “There’s a sense of general despair or defeatism, the idea that you might not like the way the world is, but it’s sort of inevitable. It’s as though injustice is like the weather: you can complain about it raining but there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s the problem for those of us who want genuine radical change, who want a different sort of society. People feel politics isn’t relevant to their daily lives.”