Only two constituencies provide a spark of interest in North election

THE British general election campaign has reached the half way point and is now beginning to heat up.

However, in Northern Ireland the election remains largely dormant. Even though both local and Westminster elections are being held on May 5, there is little visible electoral activity on the ground (or even up the polls) in the North.

Of course the media there is covering the election story, but there is a sense that it is merely going through the motions profiling the constituencies, covering the campaign manifesto launches, but doing so dutifully rather than with any sense of real newsworthiness. The election, in fact, has seldom made the front pages of the North's daily papers and, when it does, it is usually because of stories of divisions or personality clashes within some of the parties.