I think everyone has things the wrong way round. People are not apathetic because they feel removed from the political process. The political process has become so removed from the people because they are apathetic.

A few decades ago, whether we had a Labour or Conservative government could have a real impact on your life depending on whether you were working or middle-class. People were partisan. People voted. People cared.

But then the heavy industries disappeared, and the working-class was largely absorbed into the middle-classes, with a small remnant being left behind to become a sort of underclass. Labour lost its support base and morphed into New Labour, in effect a new Conservative party.

Most people have no need for ideology any more. The channels of political involvement have gone, whether it be the unions or whatever. All anybody wanted was to get their own holiday to the Costa, a college education for their kids, a nice little garden out front, and you're own margerita maker. In other words, the indicators of a successful life. We're all living in a middle-class wonderland (unless you're unlucky enough to be in the benefit-dependent underclass, but that's too small to matter), a material and consumerist world, and the policies of the political parties are reflected in that.

Although tbh, I don't see this as unhealthy for democracy. I think it's unhealthy on 1,000 different levels, but not when it comes to the democratic aspect. Probably 80% of the population lives in a big bubble where all they want from the government is basic public services and to be left alone and not taxed too heavily - ideology is irrelevant. And of course, this means all these people can have their views easily represented by a couple of near-identical parties.