When you consider it, we all have an ideological mind-set of some sort, but unlike our elected leaders, we’re not in a position to impose it on the wider public; which is probably their good fortune – and ours! In the real world, as they say, we’ve had a Labour ideology for the past thirteen years, but with an election shortly, a more Conservative ideology may replace it. If so, how much will change, or perhaps, how much can change?

Over the years we’ve created a huge culture of dependency and welfare, no doubt with the best of intentions. The cost of mitigating poverty is enormous, yet this does not seem to cure the problem. Indeed experts tell us that the gap that separates the rich and poor is wider. And in the middle, the middle class is squeezed until the ‘pips squeak’. Huge amounts are spent on health and education, but equally huge problems remain. With this situation, can we say that government intervention works?

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