LIKE a kid with a wobbly tooth, I tried to avoid worrying it.

But the temptation to pontificate on the upcoming election proved irresistible. No matter how much it might hurt later.

The first tale to break down Podium’s feeble resistance was the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition deciding not to field candidates in either of Warrington’s parliamentary seats, such was their admiration for Comrade Corbyn.

Not really because the absence of Kevin Bennett and whichever unfortunate might have been selected to contest Warrington South represented a seismic shift in the all-round offering to voters.

But this raised, on a wider plain, the thorny question of electoral pacts. If TUSC won’t nominate to please Labour’s hard-left cabal, what future does that party have?

Similarly the shady deals which have been done in a number of London and south-east seats, ostensibly to oust any sitting Tories, surely demeans the party or parties laying down their arms.

One argument may be to coalesce voters behind a centrist of left-wing crusader – but if you’re a lifelong Labour, Liberal Democrat or Green supporter then you deserve a name on the ballot paper you can place your ‘X’ by.

Otherwise we’ll end up like the Italians, with elections every other year, as rainbow alliances spring up and crumble. Only sad political geeks want that prospect.