What will be the main issues in the general election to be held in nine weeks' time?

The economy, law and order, education, health and pensions will take top place.

But in spite of Tony Blair's speech earlier this year on green issues, I doubt if they will get much of a showing.

It's a shame because environmentalists like me believe the most pressing problems facing us are in this area.

They include climate change and, ironically, changes in agricultural policy which could have encouraged the spread of foot and mouth disease which led to the election postponement.

In past elections there has often been a clear division between the two main parties on policies.

Now socialism has been discarded by Labour and is only espoused by minor figures, such as Arthur Scargill.

Since Labour executed a sharp turn to the right, it is often hard to spot which twin is the Tory.

The grinding poverty that inspired radical socialists such as Nye Bevan and Barbara Castle has all but disappeared.

Now the average family on the dole has far more money and possessions than the typical working family of the Thirties, the Fifties and possibly even the Sixties.

Unemployment has gone down from the life-threatening levels that led to the Jarrow march 70 years ago or even the peaks that led to the Right to Work march on Brighton for the 1981 Conservative party conference.

Homeless families are not on the streets (although single people are) but are being given social housing or housing benefit.

So where are the real radicals now? They are often in the Green Party which expresses unfashionable concerns about growth and other issues, such as begging.

They are sometimes in the Liberal Democrats and there are still one or two radicals hidden away in the mainstream parties; people such as the West Worthing MP Peter Bottomley.

Prosperity means it would be possible to spend billions on reshaping the railways and introducing city centre trams.

It would be possible to get rid of the barren, chemical-filled plains which now constitute much of arable farming and get rid of the vile conditions in which many farm animals are kept.

Much former farmland could be returned to its wild and natural state, ideal for recreation. But it would all cost money and it's not a high priority for our current leaders.

There is a slow movement towards green issues among the public. You have only to look at the steady expansion of the organic counters at supermarkets.

But while there is doubt over subjects such as global warming and there is no impact on most people in this country, they couldn't care less.

It may take an environmental catastrophe to bring about a true awareness of green issues.

But bearing in mind that even foot and mouth does not seem to be making much impact on their eating habits, it would have to be a big one.

In the meantime, environmentalists have to decide what to do with their vote.

Do they go for a Green Party which has little chance of victory anywhere, although it could make a show of strength in cities such as Brighton and Hove?

Do they vote for the greenest of the main parties?

We can all make our choice. But while the main parties are like Tweedledee and Tweedledee on issues they consider important, time is running out for action on the biggest issue of all.