I have been wondering today why on earth people stand for election.

I know some of our councillors who are in rock-solid safe seats who are almost paralysed by worry as the day gets closer. How much worse must it be for parliamentary elections?

It is never a good thing to fail, whether it is a driving test, a job interview, a school exam, or even trying to cop off with someone in the pub, but those situations are not particularly public. In an election you are seeting yourself up to fail in front of hundreds of people, at least half of whom are going to take very public pressure in your failure.

Maybe they all think they will win, so is that humiliation better or worse for being a surprise?

I lost an election myself last year, and know from experience that its not pleasant, although as there were 36 other seats being counted and announced in the same hall I was not centre-stage. But I was only standing for something that would have been part-time; something for evenings, weekends and the odd day off. This week we have Laura and Henry (I don’t think anyone else is in with a shout) going for something which will be their life for 4 or 5 years.

Laura has the most to lose, as she is currently in the job. Henry still still has his leadership of the county council to fall back on, unless Jayne manages to beat him in that election (I still have my fingers crossed). And yet Laura has never looked anything less than happy or confident whenever I have seen her.

Maybe thats why I don’t have what it takes to play in the political game. Even if I feel confident about an outcome, I have still worked out what the worst-case is and it is in my mind no matter how unlikely it is. I guess you have to have a thick skin anyway to cope with all the lazy insults thrown in the press every week – and we are all guilty of that: I am happy enough to criticize Thatcher, or Howard, or Tebbitt without knowing them at all.

When we win on Thursday night I will do my hardest not to make the traditional wrist gestures to Henry. I can almost empathise with him.