TRAVELLING to the office on Tuesday morning, I switched on the car radio to catch the news.

What I heard left me deeply disturbed, but I managed to remain in control of the vehicle.

However, had I been walking through the countryside I would likely have head-butted the nearest tree until any memory of what had reached my ears was erased.

My consternation was prompted by the newscaster’s announcement that it was now just 100 days before the General Election in May.

This column has never expressed favour for any political party, tried to influence readers to vote in a certain way or passed comment on the result after citizens went to the polls.

My belief is that everyone has the right to vote the way they wish, and we should respect the fact other citizens have views that differ from our own.

That said, I am now scunnered with politics.

The lengthy run-up to Scotland’s independence referendum last year left me mentally drained.

I suspect there will have been others who felt the same.

As with the referendum, the looming General Election means we will have to listen to wild claims — many of which will be verging on the absurd — and pledges that could never be fulfilled in a million years.

Like many readers I speak to, I believe there is an increasing gap between the electorate and politicians. Politicians used to come from all walks of life.

They ranged from individuals who had learned a trade to wealthy business people.

But there was a common bond in that most had experience of working in the big, bad world.

It strikes me a good number of today’s elected representatives leave school, attend university and then enter the world of politics — never having had a working jacket on their backs.

Others will not have had a proper job thanks to wealthy parents, although that has always been the case in politics.

I don’t know if the electorate can take much more claptrap — and lots will be served up before May — from politicians who are no longer in touch with reality.