With less than a month to go before the British public decide who they want to lead the country. New election promises have become a staple of our daily news intake.

In past elections issues of ‘competence’ and ‘reliability’ dominated the headlines. Yet this time round there seems to be a competition to decide who is the ‘loveliest’ candidate.

Much has been made of Theresa May’s ideological differences with her predecessor. The prime minister’s brand of compassionate church going conservatism is certainly taking centre stage.  She has promised to give more rights for workers to help sick relatives, an increase in the living wage and a boost in funding for mental health. Oh yes, and who can forget that delightful interview on The One show last week.

Even lovelier still is Labour’s contender Mr Corbyn.

Labour’s manifesto pledges £6 billion more for the NHS, a cap on energy bills and a ban on those dastardly zero hours contracts. In fact unless you’re a business type there isn’t a section of British society Mr Corbyn doesn’t want to give a big cuddle to.

Even if you are still hung up about the EU referendum result last year. You can dry those tears. Because the Lib Dems are on hand to rescue Britain from those nasty Brexit people. Democracy should never get in the way of you feeling good anyway.

Casual sarcasm aside there is a serious issue here. Parties are falling over themselves to offer things to people rather than being seen as responsible.

The idea that serious policy should be a cathartic process and that we are ‘entitled’ to public services is a pernicious idea. The state is already enormous. The semi-religious ideal that people are placing in the government to solve all our social ills is truly worrying. This is particularly true of Mr Corbyn and his disciples.