Joined-up government?The turnout at the polls today will probably be the lowest since the Second World War, reflecting a serious breakdown in trust between politicians and their voters. In 2001, Mr Prescott slogged a protester in front of the cameras – far from getting a red card, he was rewarded with the deputy premiership. This time around, he has told a Welsh reporter to bugger off and get off the campaign bus, slagged off John Birt to the press and been incensed by a few harmless Greenpeace protesters, not to mention anyone who dares to ask a question he can’t inarticulately waffle his way out of.Can you honestly go and tell young people to seek a career in politics with this lot of role models at the helm? Mr Howard signally fails to let anyone else in his party say anything and Mr Kennedy still seems best suited to a career as a television chat show host. I’m not surprised that the Electoral Commission rejected the idea of giving the vote to 16-year-olds last year – young people are far more idealistic than our elected representatives.There are some exceptions – on the Today programme the other morning, good manners and civility prevailed as Freddie Forsyth, Brian Eno and David Hare discussed their voting intentions. But their body language is pathetic, more appropriate for Kevin the stroppy teenager than a couple of middle- aged married men.

Two powerful women, whatever their differences, would never stoop to this pathetic level of whispers, innuendo and obvious distrust.Then there’s Mr Prescott, far more bellicose and charmless than the much-maligned Wayne Rooney. And to be fair, the public are only picking up on how they see politicians themselves behave.When they are not being patronising and obtuse and refusing to answer anything directly, they are major league sulkers. Blair and Brown, like two pandas being prepared for the mating ritual, have temporarily buried the hatchet for the final countdown. In discussion programmes on all channels over the past few weeks, large numbers of the public seem to have lost what little manners they ever had and regard it as their democratic right to bellow, heckle and snarl at Mr Blair, taking up where Mr Paxman left off There is no sense of respect at all The man must be punished and punished most publicly. Mr Howard is addressed as if he’s a slightly slippery chap you’ve run into at the pub.Not surprisingly, the two main party leaders have retaliated and turned walkabouts into photo opportunities with little opportunity for “free speech” and interaction with the mob. And, if he were asked to speak, Mr Blair wouldn’t have got a word in edgeways as pro-hunters or animal rights protesters would have stormed the stage. The icing on the cake would probably be a couple of chaps in superman gear from Fathers 4 Justice abseiling from the balcony And as for Cherie Blair getting a laugh? No chance.

Some might call this imagined scenario the exercising of freedom of speech – but, to me, our increasingly raucous and belligerent behaviour towards politicians has become symptomatic of something darker.During this election campaign, millions of viewers who would never normally stay up for Newsnight have tuned in to see Jeremy Paxman savagely attack the party leaders on television, as if they were witnessing a legal blood sport. On occasions like this, Americans are able to set aside their political differences and behave in a civilised manner.It would be impossible to stage an event in Britain like the one I attended in Washington. Over here, the evening would be disrupted by hecklers, the flashing of bare bottoms, the waving of placards and uncontrollable ranting. The room rocked with appreciative laughter – no sneering and no fawning Mrs Bush stole the show. The point of the story is, I just couldn’t imagine it happening in Britain. America, the country we’ve spent so long mocking as a load of xenophobic, uncultured, obese simpletons, has turned out to possess in spades the one quality that has been missing at every level from our election campaign: good manners.After a bitter and narrowly contested American presidential election campaign last year, the world hasn’t ground to a halt, business is continuing as normal. We were like a provincial matinee where the audience hasn’t paid for its seats.

Grumpy, distant, indifferent, we weren’t even interested in the Prime Minister’s morning paper claim that he could “do it” – that is, perform the sexual act – five times in a night Incredible At his age

At last The final press conference of the election campaign And it showed. The Cabinet trooped resentfully on stage in front of the lowest turn-out of journalists in recent electoral history. Sky TV’s Adam Boulton leafed through the Daily Mail and cleared his mobile messages while the Prime Minister made his passionate introduction. Alan Milburn was so tired his face-pulling was down to 30 per cent of normal, if normal’s the word.

John Prescott’s elephantine eyes flicked dully round the room expressing as much contempt as he could (quite a lot, by volume). Margaret Beckett didn’t say anything, but then she never does. I’ve got her quote down in my notes as: “Tony Blair doesn’t blow in the wind.” We don’t wish to know that! Kindly leave the stage!Mr Blair’s still on very good form, don’t you think? He makes the case, if you’re paying attention It’s a better case than anyone else has made He deserves to have won the argument. He says: “Prosperity and social justice are what have brought people to us.” You may not be able to trust a word he says, but the longer sentences often convey a general truth. Prosperity and a sense of social justice are precisely what will win them the election today. They have achieved things valued by every shade of opinion: the minimum wage, for those on the left, and the greatest social inequality since Queen Victoria, for those on the right.