So I went away for a while, in case you hadn't noticed, a couple of things have been happening since my last post.

I haven't posted a blog since the Westminster attacks. Since then a General Election has been called and ANOTHER attacked occurred in Manchester which has sparked more baseless accusations against Muslims with the added fun of talk of internment.

I decided to jump back in with just a few thoughts on this election as we enter the final week.

First, we should not be in the middle of an election. It was an arrogant move from the Theresa May who thought that she could waltz back into Downing Street with an increased majority and a nice bejewelled crown waiting for her. I'm sure she thought that she would be taking a victory lap next week. Maybe there would have been a dip in the polls but she as standing against JEREMY CORBYN!

What a difference five weeks make? Her lead has evaporated and now the election is about will she retain the keys to number 10. Even worse, she needs a massive victory to justify her ridiculous gamble. When the election was called there were a number of Labour MPs walking through the hallways with their heads sunken but, there were also a number of Conservative MPs who seemed less than pleased with the election.

Now, with the possibility of Conservative losses and a HUNG PARLIAMENT we are all on tenterhooks awaiting a result that, five weeks ago, was as good as guaranteed for the Tories.

To go from increased majority to...uh-oh is not a good platform to be on and could even result in a resignation despite a Tory victory.

In Scotland there's a totally different picture of one party that's trying to govern and oppose Tory policy at the same time and three other parties that are only focused on getting the SNP out of their seats.

Even today, STV ran a story on a Unionist party informal electoral pact to knock out SNP candidates. Think about that for a second. The Labour Party (Scotland) has once again signed up with the Conservative Party (Scotland) to ensure that SNP candidates do not win but, that also means that Labour (Scotland) candidates , and others, are also signing up to tacitly support Conservative candidates and their policies. When I mention Tory policy, I mean policy in England because the only policy that the Conservatives (Scotland), Labour (Scotland) or the Liberal Democrats (Scotland) have is to oppose a second independence referendum.

That's it. All, I would say to those parties is to remind them of what happened after their cosy union of parties ended last time.

To top it all off, the SNP will be judged on their ability to retain seats. Remember, the SNP won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland. That's 95% of the seats. No other party will be judged on such a high level. Theresa May will not have people asking her, "You didn't win 618 of the 650 seats in the UK; does that mean Conservatism is over?" The SNP may win or lose seats but, even if they emerge as the largest party in Scotland by a country mile, the rhetoric will be the same and that's why this election is so aggravating to me.

Theresa May thought that she could quell opposition, gain more Tory MPs and all on the back of an image, a mirage, of who people thought she was. What she was not planning on was an informed populous paying attention to what was going on in the election. One does not institute a dementia tax without thinking you've got votes to burn.

All of the other parties had to defend themselves for weeks while the Tories were able to run free from closed set piece to closed set piece. It is beyond obvious now that the Tories were keeping their powder dry. Every part of their campaign has been a mess, and yet, they are still expected to win.

This time next week we will begin to see the outcome of this General Election. I sincerely hope that all of my former Members are returned but, of all the elections I've seen since I've been here, I've never been more ready for one to be over.