It exercises its independence selectively, and losses can generate a huge bill for taxpayers with no oversight from ministers.
Recent governments have strained to take ever-larger numbers out of income tax whilst maintaining a large welfare state. The problem is whether this is sustainable.
Those who believe the world’s heritage should be curated by universal museums hold hardcore ideologised radical views.
Over this period, the UK’s economic growth was level with the US’s and exceeded the other five members of the G7. In other words, on international comparisons, we did well.
The Prime Minister must make up his mind whether or not to see through a policy to stop the small boats – now an issue of profound symbolic importance.
Some Tory members would see such a development as nothing less than an establishment coup: as a conspiracy of bad actors working together to win revenge for Brexit.
The purpose of the BM is not to engage in social engineering. It is “to hold for the benefit and education of humanity a collection representative of world cultures, and ensure that the collection is housed in safety, conserved, curated, researched and exhibited”.
He will have believed he had no need to define himself more clearly when his poll ratings were high. So now other people are doing it for him.
We don’t need a new tax system on food, but instead to reform the one we already have to make it more rational, and indeed simpler.
In future, the economy may run into inflation bottlenecks earlier in economic recoveries than before, thus constraining growth.
We see evident now in the Tory Party, my party, a strange mix of complacency, entitlement, fear and exhaustion.
The Government seems to have no plan to communicate as cost of living woes multiply. Here’s a first stab at one.
In addition to the broad question about the Chancellor’s political judgement, I think he faces three specific problems.
It allows politicians to squeeze voters whilst lying about being tax-cutters at election time.
The Tories of the 2030s will need to make a complete clean break with the 1980s. We can think new ideas – and return to older ones to conserve and protect the institutions that make up the social fabric of this country.