The battle lines have definitely been drawn. Ahead of May’s general election, we know that the Labour Party’s campaign will centre on ‘saving’ the NHS from the Conservatives; for the Tories it’s the economy, stupid: you can’t have a healthy NHS without a strong economy. For UKIP, well, you can’t have anything since the EU and immigrants have taken it already.

With no party likely to win a parliamentary majority, the Liberal Democrats, defending their record in coalition, can be kingmakers once again, but also saviours from the chaos that may arise with the emergence of smaller parties.

Joining the Tories in government in 2010, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg admitted his party was taking “big risks”. Love them or hate them, this is what they have done ever since, and no matter which party commands the most Westminster seats come 8th May, what the Lib Dems currently offer is stability. That is, critique and stability over single issue politics, selfish interests and scaremongering on show elsewhere.

In a political system where party lines have become increasingly blurred, May’s general election has been simplified almost beyond belief, narrowing the choice from grand ideas and visions to mere single issues. Clearly, David Cameron will also target Ed Miliband’s weaknesses; judging by recent embarrassments, Labour’s NHS rescue mission seems more credible than attacks on an out-of-touch Tory elite.

All the while, smaller parties from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists to Scottish Nationalists are weighing up their potential options in the likely event of a hung parliament. To avoid the chaos of pork-barrel politics, perhaps the imperfect Lib Dems may offer a balance between party and national interests. Beyond this short-termism, whether any of the mainstream Westminster parties have the leadership and courage to propose a bold, imaginative vision for the 2020s remains to be seen.