This evening, I saw a friend I hadn’t seen for a few weeks, and he asked me what I’d been up to, so inevitably the subject of stopping Boris came up. He agreed that Boris clearly shouldn’t be Mayor, then added:

“I don’t think he’ll win though, it’s not likely…”

I broke the news of the most recent polling figures - 49% to Boris, 37% to Ken, 12% to Brian - and his jaw dropped. “No…!” he exclaimed, in disbelief. “Oh no, that’s awful. That’s really spoilt my evening now.”

Of course, I apologised, but my encounter brought home the fact that there is a lot of complacency out there among people who don’t want Boris to be Mayor and just assume that he can’t possibly win this. It’s good complacency in a way, of course: they’re complacent about how sensible they assume the rest of London’s voting residents are. But sadly the opinion polls suggest otherwise.

So, although it may spoil their evenings, days or even weeks, please do take any opportunity to point out to your friends that Boris can win this election. He’s the odds-on favourite with the bookies, and leaps and bounds ahead in the opinion polls. It’s up to those of us who are aware of the threat he poses to make aware those who aren’t.

Pass on our apologies to your friends for any of their evenings ruined on this campaign’s behalf though, won’t you?