Comment by Bucks Free Press journalist Peter Grant

As election campaigns go, this one has been a bit of a tame affair so far.

The absence of a throw-an-egg-at-me-and-I’ll-knock-your-block-off moment has left me a little cold.

Instead, it has all felt a little fourth gear, a bit pastel shade, a tad defrost setting.

Admittedly, the Tory PR machine has replaced David Cameron’s batteries in the last few days after a lacklustre show in recent weeks.

Instead of grandstanding rhetoric, we’ve had kitchen chats; and when the most exciting of those involves Ed Miliband and Russell Brand, you start to question the whole thing.

Every opinion poll suggests a hung Parliament, and much of the wrangling has centred on premature bitching over possible coalition allies.

The minimal chest beating must be because neither Ed nor Dave really think their parties can win outright – possibly ever again.

It feels very possible that the days of a heavyweight political slugfest between Conservative and Labour – with the Liberal Democrats acting as a small referee in a stripey top – may just be numbered.

Instead, nuanced positions on policies and imaginary ‘red lines’ are the new ammunition on the election battlefield, as parties try desperately to stay relevant while not alienating possible allies.

With a febrile landscape like never before and a more demanding (if capricious) electorate, it’s not surprising UKIP and, possibly, the Greens can expect gains.

The choice of two polarised world views just doesn’t play in this new post-Twitterist period. Acceptance of the establishment is gone; rever ence for almost anything is dying.

It’s possible such overwhelming evidence from opinion polls could lead to a complete reversal in voters’ actions come May 7.

If people really are that capricious, might we see a sudden swing as a two-fingered rejection to the hung parliament determinism?

Closer to home it is harder to feel the earth move. Few would bet against Dominic Grieve losing the whopping majority that saw him collect three times as many votes as his nearest rival. And Cheryl Gillan needn’t cancel her annual train pass to London anytime soon.

Wycombe poses a more interesting scenario, with the Lib Dems’ Steve Guy having run Steve Baker close-ish in 2010 with nearly 30 per cent of the vote.

And this time around, Wycombe’s constituency presents an intriguing polarisation in political posturing.

What became immediately clear at the BFP hustings event this week was not only that the skirmish over A&E services at Wycombe Hospital is still raging, but that the candidates’ positions have crystalised.

Incumbent Steve Baker has banged the drum long and hard for the return of an A&E department, but now says fundamental changes to the way hospitals are run means it cannot, and will not, happen.

“I am not going to sit here and lie to you” he told the 100-plus audience on Tuesday, insisting an urgent medical centre on the site was the best-case scenario.

A determined, if risky stance, which he openly acknowledged afterwards could cost him a great deal of core votes.

His opponents jumped on it, with Labour’s David Williams accusing the Tory of having “thrown in the towel” on A&E and saying he would continue to fight the system on residents’ behalf.

And Lib Dem Steve Guy issued a pledge to Wycombe voters on A&E – his “number one priority” – if I don’t make progress, throw me out in four years, he says.

With tempers in the room roused over that one issue over all others, it’s clear concern over healthcare in the town hasn’t budged one bit.

So as we prepare to make our voices heard, one thing is clear – the tectonic plates of national politics may be shifting, but closer to home we’re on familiar ground.