Above: Mice put together this board game for  our feature on the Tonight with Vincent Browne as a weird yet wonderful phenomenon many moons ago.

Vinny B has opened the cannons on any buoyant optimism out there that this will be a sea change of an election. At the end of the day he says, feck all will change.

As he puts it:

“Nothing of consequence will change in Irish society with this election. Over one million people will continue to live in deprivation; nearly one in five of everyone in employment will continue to be paid pittances; thousands of poorer people will die prematurely (this was estimated a decade ago to be around 5,000 annually); us – rich people – will crash the queues for preferential healthcare, others will be left on trollies and waiting lists; schools will make no significant difference to the life chances of children and young adults; only the few will exert any influence on public policy; our democracy will remain hollow.

Fine Gael will be the lead party of government again, supported by “like-minded” Independents, “like-minded’ Labour (if there are any left) or “like-minded” Fianna Fail.”

Then he sets off into a tirade about how none of the major issues trumpeted during the election will be changed and calls out the “air headed hysteria” of Independent Newspapers blathering on about the Shinners.

Don’t mistake him for jumping in their court either, absolutely no holds are barred when he describes their prospects:

“Hundreds of thousands will vote for Sinn Féin thinking this will make a significant difference to the distribution of income, wealth, power, influence, cultural capital, social capital – they will be disappointed. It is not that Sinn Féin is a threat to the established order, it is that Sinn Féin wants to become part of the established order.”

There’s a scalding for the water and household charge movements in there too.

Turned cynical with time or a wise head all too copped to the motions of  Realpolitik?

Read it over at the Irish Times site here.