The idea that all groups should have the same outcomes is just an update of the old socialist idea of equality of outcome – ignoring the choices that individuals make.
But don’t expect that to stop the commentariat, or the Opposition, trying to manufacture some kind of row, even if only for show.
Between 1997 and 2005, public sector spending rose from £336 billion to £517 billion a year. But its output has increased little, so its productivity has fallen dramatically.
In an era when it is harder for young people to buy a house, or even just to pay rent, it makes sense to direct more help to them than older people who already have one.
Plus: investment increasing, Heseltine declining. Listen to Farage – especially if you disagree with him. And: Activate sounds like dermatological face cream.
The underlying motive for this tradition, though now often dressed up in quasi-medical language, is as much aesthetic as sanitary.
There are better ways to spend money on education than on tax breaks for very expensive profit-making institutions.
It’s notable that criticism of it, and of nationhood, typically comes from the privileged, within the most economically and politically secure nations.
When we first increased, and then doubled, this budget, it improved many people’s lives. Reversing that would be a retrograde step.
Politics often expects a quick answer. But the quick answer often isn’t the best. From education to Brexit, complex questions deserve proper thought.
Plus: Nigel Farage steps into my shoes; life after gangs; and the absurd Remainer response to the Government’s Brexit papers.
Leaving the EU means we’re erecting an enormous trade barrier with our continent.
Also: Unionists accuse Sinn Fein of ‘ploy’ over talks; prominent Cybernat arrested; Ulster court throws out gay marriage case; and more.
May should make a virtue of the complexity.
He was excoriated for ramping up tensions over North Korea rather than cooling them down. But his aggression seems, for the moment at least, to be paying off.