As the election campaign nears the finishing straight, it is becoming ever more clear that Labour is going to form the next government: the only remaining question to be settled seems to be the size of its majority.

It’s a situation that today moved one of our readers to express his despair.

John Birkett of St Andrews writes:

"While the Conservatives hardly deserve re-election, there are many reasons to be concerned about any Labour government whether with a small or large majority.

Labour supports votes for children of 16, an increase in trade union officialdom's powers, a tax on private education which will favour the very rich and the best-known and mainstream schools, more supposedly "independent" quangos, and a ban on trail hunting with hounds, among other follies; but it does not accept our continuing need to support our oil industry as we develop more sustainable energy sources, and which will still be needed well after 2050 for non-fuel applications.

Many of its MPs would support increased wokery (in gender zealotry, cancel culture, no platforming, so-called diversity and "decolonisation") and maintaining the unfair imbalance between public and private sector pensions. Will its new MPs have a track record of non-political "real world" experience?

Sir Keir Starmer scorned Rishi Sunak's (admittedly poorly presented) proposal for a new form of national service, as merely a "teenage army", which would seem to negate any rationale for his votes at 16 obsession.

Our choice almost equals that facing Americans in November."