By the time you are reading this column, the UK General Election will be in full swing. For political geeks, it's either lots of campaigning or, if they’re not actively engaged in party politics, a feast or argument, debate and spectacle.

You can of course mentally and literally switch off. We are not required to vote and neither are we required to pay any attention to the debates, the shouting matches and the drama.

One obvious way to avoid it would be to go on holiday, and I would imagine that some of you may well take a few days away over the coming weeks. That’s normal.

But of course, this election is a bit different in that polling day will fall after the start of the Scottish school holidays. As a consequence, many families will literally be on holiday. 

Now, there are times when events dictate the date of an election. A government may fall as a result of a vote in parliament for instance. If there is no option, then there is no choice and we all have to accept it and get on with it.

However, in this instance, the date has been chosen by the government and much play has already been made of the fact that polling day will fall before the schools break up for the summer – the schools in England and Wales that is.

Little or no thought was given to the situation in Scotland. If it's good enough to avoid the holidays in one part of the UK, surely it should be good enough to take account of different dates in other parts?

I’ve already seen comments from some politicians saying that this doesn’t matter, it's not a big issue, let's just get on with it. And to a degree, I understand that.

But the fact is that many people will miss polling day, and while the option of a postal vote is there, I have little doubt that many will not arrange that and therefore not vote. That is to be regretted and it ought to be avoided wherever we can.

Governments should facilitate voting, not make it more difficult. For this election, our UK government are clearly not bothered about voters in Scotland. That is something that we should all regret!