It was always a futile exercise.
John Fisher Tommy Cooper: Always Leave Them Laughing (2006)
Signing onto just any training course may prove to be a futile exercise.
Ingham, Christine Life Without Work (1994)
That is not to say this was a totally futile exercise.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Trying to encourage home ownership by subsidising buyers is a futile exercise.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Unless financial education is taught by properly trained and qualified teachers it will be a futile exercise.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)