What is the role of government? It feels like a controversial area so it’s worth remembering that most of what the government does is stuff we all want doing. I’m using the term government in its widest sense, to include local councils and the various companies that now do things instead of the government as part of an ongoing scheme to keep logo designers in work and reassure Thatcherites that, even as their bins are being emptied, some free market capitalism is still happening.
Schools, roads, hospitals, police, sewers, courts, running water, electricity, trains, buses, rules about restaurants not serving rat meat, democratic elections, an army, navy and air force, bank holidays, poor relief and prisons. Almost everyone agrees that our society should have all this to a certain extent and also that it should be good and honest and professional and that it shouldn’t cost more than necessary.
