Last weekend Jeremy Corbyn was emphatically elected as leader of the Labour Party.

During the campaign, former leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair warned that Corbyn’s politics were those of fantasy, like in Alice in Wonderland.

Elected with over 59% of votes cast by party members, registered and affiliated supporters, what Corbyn won, essentially, was the hearts of the core party membership if not the heads of bemused Labour MPs.

Considering the risk-averse nature of Northern Irish political parties and failure to expand their electoral appeal, you might almost suspect that their respective leadership elections had been “infiltrated” by supporters of other parties, as some suggested would swing the Labour contest.

The aim of every political party in any other democracy is to win every vote, yet none of the main parties here seem willing to “win” a general election. Instead they target certain fragments of the electoral register, percentage shares of the vote.

Mandatory power-sharing between nationalist and unionist parties has almost become an excuse for parties not to broaden their electoral horizons.

The current impasse at Stormont follows a murder suspected to have been perpetrated by a paramilitary organisation which we were told had gone away, yes, but our political institutions have been dragged to the brink of collapse by amateurish political party stunts, squabbles and insults.

What often defines a successful political party is the ability to facilitate a kind of umbrella organisation accommodating a range of groups and interests. It is bizarre that some parties here effectively refuse to work towards providing this.

Whilst many pundits predict that Corbyn will fail to appeal to the wider electorate at 2020’s general election, at least between now and then Labour will attempt to do so.

At Stormont we have too many conflict-obsessed politicians clinging on to power within what should be described as a post-conflict period and parliamentary arena.

Whereas Corbyn might occupy Wonderland, as Blair suggests, his election and the reaction to the Labour leadership result demonstrates just how detached voters here are from ‘normal’ politics elsewhere. We are in no man’s land.

Trapped in this political waste land of imagined “communities”, fantasy budgets, “zombie” Executives and ministers constantly dancing in and out of government, our elected politicians must get a grip on reality and focus on what really matters to the citizens of Northern Ireland.

Installing a permanent Health Minister would make a good start.