IT'S election time, and that often sparks local newspapers to exhort their readers to use their vote, no matter how it is cast.

However there may be even more pleading this year as politics, and in particular local politics, has become increasingly irrelevant to many people. Turnouts have plummeted and newspapers' own research shows that local politics is deemed boring by a large proportion of the population. Any newspaper which is perceived as boring is on a slippery slide.

Quite how to reverse the trend is a problem taxing the politicians.

Doubtless the quest for solutions will become even more pressing given the dismal participation in the French presidential elections, which resulted in a narrow, far right group to sneak into second place.

So here's our customary exhortation: Local councils directly control your life, they take large sums of money out of your pockets and have a big say in shaping the sort of community you live in. Should you really care nothing for who controls your community?