Hard to get animated about these presidential hopefuls

STRANGE times in Belgium as the country enters its 55th week without a Government and one of its few cultural exports, The Smurfs, are outed as racists.

The lack of a ruling political elite since inconclusive general elections does not seem to faze the country, but the revelations about Papa Smurf and his band of little blue men are causing national soul searching.

If only Irish voters could tick a ‘none of the above’ box on the ballot paper in the secure knowledge that social and economic life would chug on with prosperous normality.