A close race is more exciting than a walkover, so the local council and European Parliament elections less than a week away are attracting more interest than usual. Unfortunately this is for all the wrong reasons. Opinion polls show Labour and the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) neck and neck on the final bend when people are asked how they might vote in the European elections – with Ukip, most significantly, somewhat ahead of the Conservative Party. This is assumed to show the extent to which Ukip will be a threat to the Tories in next spring’s general election. Meanwhile simultaneous polls also show a close-run thing when people are asked how they intend to vote then. This time the two front-runners are Labour and the Conservatives, with Ukip some way behind in thir