Thank you for your response, Andy.

We should distinguish between manufacture and construction which, in my view, are not the role of the state, and facilitating, commissioning and financing, which I would argue often are where strategic considerations apply. The Channel Tunnel was a “Triumph of Capitalism” in the sense the railways were in the early 1800s but, just as the railways required numerous railways acts to allow them the be built so did the Tunnel require similar support on both sides of the Channel.Furthermore the state, on both sides, was involved in financing and commissioning the road and rail links without which the Tunnel would serve no purpose.

The UK the railway permanent way is effectively nationalised and also state subsidised; I don’t think privatising of the water industry can be cited as a great success since, as far as I can make out, most water companies are now heavily indebted and no new reservoirs have been built for a generation. Roads remain under the state and there are vital long term strategic issues concerning energy which must be the province of the state. In part, long term research has to be stimulated by the state; antibiotics, aviation and electronics all received massive boosts in WW2. We need new antibiotics now, mainly to be kept in reserve for future use so the payback period will be many decides and the pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to finance these on their own. Finally, unless we want to have people dying in the street we ned an NHS and some form of welfare state albeit these, peculiarly the latter, have become too large in my opinion.

Yes, we do need private industry and lots of it too, for the reasons a gave previously but unquantified prise for Capitalism does not work with either with “salt of the earth” former Labour voters or younger people in my experience because its limitations are too obvious so a more qualified approach is required.

Steady, mon brave!

Yes she is a hopeless PM but she is our hopeless PM and, for now, the only PM we have.

As for Brexit we are and will continue to muddle through, partly because a harsh Brexit would hurt France, Germany and Holland (the rest don’t count) even more then us. When Brexit has been achieved the longer term results will depend on us, by which I mean the younger generation who, like all generations before them, will have to stop whining, roll up their sleeves, make the best of the new opportunities and get on with doing useful things.

The case for capitalism is pretty much the same as the case for democracy. It’s inefficient, wasteful, sometimes corrupt and always “unfair” but it is less bad than the alternatives.

The state simply cannot run everything and is already running too much, often not very well. Commercial organisations independent of the state provide opportunism for our society and individuals which just would not exist with state control of the economy. Extreme socialist states always end in disaster simply because they are not able to control without repression and repression stifles feedback with leads to economic collapse. However, capitalism requires regulation and a strict legal framework to mitigate its excesses. Finally capitalism does not work at all well for long term investment, particularly for infrastructure and services required for the common good and for strategic investment so there is also a vital role for the state too.

I live within Tendring District Council’s boundaries. Tendring DC is very efficient at collecting the rubbish, much less good at planning (we still have not got and approved local plan so “get rich quick developers” are having a field day) and hopeless at tourism which should be thriving in this attractive part of Essex. Tendring DC does not, of course, control the hopelessly and terminally useless Essex Police and Neil Stock should not pretend he has any influence over them. Our local police station was closed down a few years ago and since then we hardly ever see a “police person” so crime has soared.

With the exception of Pitt the Younger our political leadership was pretty dire during the Napoleonic Wars yet we still won and won brilliantly. We must hope that somewhere in the Brexit Ministry, the Treasury, the FCO and BEIS there are Civil Servants with as much drive and vision as Admirals St Vincent, Nelson and Saumarez and Generals Sir John Moore and Wellesley.

I don’t rate Mrs May at all highly as a PM and I cannot understand how the Conservative Party let her get into that position, particularly so since she was an inadequate Home Secretary. Nevertheless, I agree with you! Brexit is progressing, so far less traumatically than it might have been, perhaps because the EU leaders don’t want her to fall and be replaced by someone more hard line. I suspect History may be kinder to her than most who inhabit Conservative Home.

I agree too that the Mrs May should NOT lead the Conservative Party into the next General Election so the Parliamentary Conservative Party had better get around to some serious succession planning which will not be easy given Mrs May’s preference for nonentities in her Cabinet..

Than you. I think, after reading your more recent and previous post, that we are close to agreement.

I agree that many contracts go wrong in the early stages because the customer has not or even cannot define what is required but a good project manager should sort that our before anything else and, for that, subject knowledge and experience is vital.

I have come across more than a few "wallies" in high places, including many in the private sector.

And it is two women, the DPP and the Commissioner of the Met, who are supposed to be bringing them before the courts. We will see.......

PS: Most criminals are men and I am a man too but not a criminal.

"colonial unionist". with this words you show your true beliefs. Fair enough, you are entitled to your views but please don't masquerade as an impartial observer in future.

Indeed. Trading recklessly and trading whilst insolvent are criminal offences so one might expect to see a full boardroom of Carillion directors in court. Like you, I have little confidence that the inept CPS and the near terminally useless Policepeople force will make sure they are.