It's still more than 18 months away, but there's no mistaking the drumbeat of the approaching general election both locally and nationally.

But before then there are probably two years of local elections to worry about - and these are starting to exercise the minds of politicians in both Ipswich and Suffolk.

This year's local elections cover every district council - and frankly Suffolk's Conservatives are terrified that the spectre of 1995 is looming over them.

That was the year they lost every council they controlled in the area - even Suffolk Coastal and St Edmundsbury ended up being run by Labour-led administrations.

It's difficult to imagine a defeat on that scale again, especially after the establishment of East and West Suffolk Councils.

But don't rule it out. If the old boundaries remained, Labour would be looking like a shoo-in to retake Waveney which makes up half of East Suffolk.

With the party also making strides in the Felixstowe area and the Greens performing well in rural areas on the coast and in some market towns, don't rule out a rainbow coalition here.

The Tories have virtually written off Mid-Suffolk. After the 2019 elections they only held on to power by the casting vote of the chair and a Green-led administration looks certain to take control.

Babergh remains a basket case where political differences play a very distant second fiddle to the personal animosity felt between the leading figures.

If there's anywhere that Tories can feel in any way relaxed about, it's probably West Suffolk where there might be several opposition strands - but they don't really look as well organised as they are in some other parts of the county.

Then we come to Ipswich. The county town is now the only borough in Suffolk - and it is very different to the rural districts.

For a start it has elections every year - and this year it is mathematically impossible for Labour to lose its majority at Grafton House.

But that's academic. This year Labour is aiming for a clean sweep just about everywhere - it's even campaigning in wards where it hasn't won since the 1990s (Castle Hill) and has been on the streets in Bixley where it has never won a seat.

Both of those seats remain a long-shot for Labour, not least because they are the only two seats where the Liberal Democrats do anything - other than their fortress of St Margarets.

However the fact that Labour thinks it's worthwhile putting boots on the ground there - Castle Hill isn't even in the marginal constituency - suggests that they are convinced the Tories are on the run.

Meanwhile Tory activists publicly talk up their party's prospects in May - but don't appear to be too keen to argue when it's suggested that 2019 could be an Annus Horribilis for them when the votes are counted.

Having covered politics during the 1990s when the Tories lost control at the county council and every district in Suffolk I have to say their demeanour seems very similar today to what I saw then.

Of course while this year's local elections are certainly important for councils and councillors across the country, the blunt fact is that for many political activists they are a dry-run for the big one that will still be nearly 18 months away by the time the results are counted.

While Labour and other opposition parties are likely to be talking up the results as a springboard towards general election success, the Tories are likely to be looking desperately for signs of green shoots of recovery which might actually be the withering decline of some dying moss!