What a lacklustre General Election campaign this has been over the last few weeks.

It seems especially tawdry when interrupted by acts of terrorism which have often seen Britons at their best.

Somehow in the campaign the main actors seem more insubstantial than last time in 2015. Theresa May is less fluent than David Cameron.

Tiny Tim Farron is not nearly as accomplished as Nick Clegg while no one in Ukip matches the banter of Nigel Farage.

The eloquence of Green co-leader and Brighton Pavilion incumbent Caroline Lucas only goes to show how hopeless most other Greens are.

Even the elephantine Mid Sussex incumbent Sir Nicholas Soames is a shadow of his former self after a diet.

The only party leader to have scored a real hit with the public is Jeremy Corbyn for Labour, who appeals particularly to young peope.

Conservatives and their allies in the national press made a big mistake at the start of the campaign in seeking to demonise Corbyn.

Expecting to see some sort of political monster, many people were surprised to find a mild-looking bloke who could have been a recently retired physics teacher.

They liked him for saying he would keep going to his allotment even if he became Prime Minister (I love the idea of his saying: “Hold on a minute, Donald, while I just plant the rest of these parsnips.”)

To many young voters who don’t recall Left wingers of the past, he seemed an ordinary, slightly shabby, bloke who was obviously not a member of the political classes.

Never mind that he is promising increased public spending and tax reductions without too many ideas about raising cash apart from soaking the rich. And it’s hard for them to reconcile the image of this kindly old fellow with some of the rather unpleasant people who surround him.

Mrs May made another mistake in calling a General Election when many voters saw no need for one.

Electors do not take kindly to unnecessary elections and this seemed intended for the good of the Conservative party rather than the nation.

She adopted a robotic form of speaking and repetition which soon became tiresome and damaged her reputation of being a safe pair of hands by changing her mind on some major issues.

As a result, the underrated Corbyn has at the very least given her a big scare and could even have deprived her of a majority. There is a chance the result might be much the same as in 2015 which would make the whole exercise seem a waste of time.

In Sussex, about half the seats will be faithfully Tory no matter what happens but a Labour revival would make some of the others more interesting.

There are hints Home Secretary Amber Rudd could lose Hastings, a marginal seat which went Labour with Tony Blair in 1997. Peter Kyle, the only Labour MP in the South East outside London, should hold on to Hove, unlikely bastion of socialism.

But the constituency at greatest risk of changing hands is Brighton Kemptown, most marginal of all the Sussex seats. Labour is pouring workers into Kemptown which Simon Kirby held by fewer than 1,000 votes last time. The Argus opinion column noted last week that Mr Kirby had been surprisingly quiet and that impression is hard to dispel.

As for Eastbourne and Lewes, lost narrowly by the Liberal Democrats last time, party hopes are fading that they will go orange again.

For if the Tories are struggling in the opinion polls, their ratings are far above those of the Lib Dems whose predicted surge of seats does not seem like happening.

As for Caroline Lucas, Brighton Pavilion looks like the nearest thing to a safe Green seat and her predicament lies in finding another MP.

Overall it’s a pity that when we tell terrorists we want to preserve our democracy, we have such a poor example on show at present.

Moderate followers of Islam in Britain have wasted no time in condemning the extremists who kill and maim under their name. But what is it about this great religion that attracts so many fanatics?

I grow weary of hearing again and again that “so called Islamic State” claimed responsibility for the latest atrocity.

Can you imagine fervent Church of England worshippers living elsewhere committing heinous acts in another country and announcing that “so called Anglican State” was responsible?

The whole notion is ludicrous, yet Islam might be well advised to look at the C of E’s famous tolerance to dissuade even a few fanatics from saying they are Islamists.