As the election looms, politicians have suddenly remembered that not only is Cornwall nice for holidays, or their second homes, there may be a chance to snaffle a few votes and even a seat or two.

And so we have announcements,  visits, smiling important people mouthing platitudes and looking earnest about problems they have been briefed about just minutes before.

And there is of course the all important photo op. These are always painful. But have some sympathy for the politicians and their strange cabal of hangers on and media minders. 

Trying to get George Osborne to look comfortable talking to a Cornish fisherman cannot be an easy task.

But there is one silver lining, in that finest of journalistic traditions, we get to caption the picture ‘Chancellor visits Cornwall... and catches crabs’. But putting the plainly comic to one side, what of the substance to the variety of promises, grants, cash boosts and assured guarantees that jobs will flow and that pasties will fall from the skies.

Well like any promise from a group who break them with such consummate ease, it all has to come with a giant pinch of salt.

Now your pal the Skipper is not important enough to warrant an audience with the Chancellor of the Exchequer , but if I was, there are two questions I would have asked.

One... what happened to the dredging George? 2013 you said and still no answer. Two... with Cornwall still the poorest part of Europe, despite the raft of promises made by every politician from every party under the sun over 40 years, why would we believe a word any of you say?