Politicians these days overlook the need to talk to the public face-to-face - Sarah Todd

What we definitely don’t need is some bewigged bozo producing yet more rules and regulations or an online survey that only a certain sector of the population is able to respond to, but a proper old-fashioned conversation.

Thinking about the army of clipboard-clad notetakers who, in an ideal world, would knock on every house in the kingdom and find out about people’s real-life hopes and dreams puts this correspondent in mind of early years spent as a teenage newspaper reporter.

If it was a slow news day yours truly was, without fail, told to put on her mac and dispatched from the newsroom to “go do a vox pop.”

Derived from the Latin phrase vox populi, which translates to "voice of the people" the phrase describes a reporter interviewing members of the public to “gather spontaneous opinions and comments on a particular issue or topic.”

Having grown up on a North Yorkshire farm in pretty much the middle of nowhere, elbowing through a busy shopping street with a photographer in tow (usually grumpy because they would rather be working on a proper news story) and asking complete strangers random questions like “If you were Prime Minister for the day what’s the first thing you would do?” and then getting their name, age and address off them was character-building to say the least.

Somehow, somewhere along the line we have - as a country - forgotten how to talk to people. Take the last general election, not a single candidate knocked on our door. Why not? Come to think of it, never mind those vying to become a Member of Parliament, those at local district level never even make themselves known anymore. It shows an arrogance of the highest order.

Back in those early local newspaper days if there was a big planning application or other matter of concern a community hall would be hired and the relevant maps stuck up on a noticeboard and experts brought in to sip coffee in the corner and answer questions. Ears belonging to real-life human beings were bent. “There was an online consultation” is one of the biggest cop-outs of the last decade.

Never mind people’s political party, this country should be run by those best able to do the job. Take agriculture for example. It is an absolute disgrace that there have been five Defra Secretaries of State in as many years. At least four of them have had no connection whatsoever to farming or rural life.

Any business worth its salt wouldn’t put somebody in charge who didn’t have the very best of skills to bring to the table. Why then do it with our country?

One recent headline that couldn’t be ignored was an agricultural machinery firm collapsing into administration with the loss of 150 jobs. The blame has been put squarely on the shoulders of the current Government’s agricultural assault; the dark cloud of inheritance tax and other policy putting the brakes on family farms investing in any new kit.

Another was the National Health Service spending £243m on translation services. When The Daughter was blue-lighted across Milan none of the doctors or nurses at the hospital could speak English and, of course, she didn’t expect them to. Instead, they passed her a mobile phone so they could use the free Google translate service to talk to her.

Former Labour Minister, now Baroness, Kate Hoey always stood up for farming. Likewise, the Liberal Democrat’s Tim Farron. The thing is, he is forever out and about in his Lake District constituency constantly talking to real-life people. He’ll be at the cattle market one week, taking part in a charity run the next and popping by to talk about tourism at a heritage railway on some random rainy afternoon. While most in his party, including the leadership, seem no better than the current shower he stands out as an exceptional campaigner for the countryside and rural communities.

The cream, rather than those who tick boxes such as being a woman or from a certain background, must be allowed to rise to the top.