Michael Blackburn: ‘The objective thinker will notice that the intellectual traffic is distinctly one way here: left and left again. Freedom of thought is encouraged, provided you end up at the pre-ordained conclusions. Marcuse, with his theory of “repressive tolerance” would have approved.

‘It also neatly fits in with the current rediscovery of old-fashioned class war. ‘

No party, no newspaper or broadcaster can go wrong if they draw from the seemingly bottomless, fetid waters of resentment in the well of British public life. Here be bile and envy that can never be sweetened with the truth. When it comes to tax, the media have successfully elided avoidance into evasion, thus converting something completely legal into something criminal in the public mind. Companies such as Starbucks, Google and Amazon are now criticised for acting within the law and doing what is eminently sensible, ie, limiting their liability to tax.

Michael Blackburn: ‘Joyce Thacker was involved in a project run by Common Purpose called Developing active networks in local communities in West Yorkshire in 2008. One of the aims of the programme was (surprise, surprise) to examine “ways of valuing diversity (in all its aspects) within communities, and enabling participants to see the world through other people’s eyes”. “Diversity”, “communities”, “enabling”: three good hits from the statist lexicon.’

Michael Blakcburn: Obama is always vague when he’s off the teleprompter. His famous oratorical skills often turn to dust when he doesn’t have a script. He waffles, stumbles, makes mistakes, and yet no one seems to care. In this he’s a sharp contrast to Tony Blair, who rates far below him in the charisma stakes, but who has the unfailing ability to blag his way through anything.

Michael Blackburn: ‘The British Empire happened; it’s one of those annoying facts that cannot be removed or relativised in some postmodern way. That it involved brutality, injustice and cruelty is not in question: it was an empire, for God’s sake, not an amusement park. But that it also resulted (perhaps imperfectly) in things that were beneficial should be acknowledged…’

Michael Blackburn: The Milburn report is statist mission creep: universities are to replace their primary purposes of research and education with the ideological aim of social engineering, in this case “social mobility”. Such moves, we are told by the experts, will result in more fairness and equality and thus, magically, a more prosperous society.

Michael Blackburn: ‘In its eagerness to fulfill EU directives the British state will be closing down a number of coal-fired power stations before it has worked out how to replace their output. Sticking up wind farms on every available acre of the land will not be enough.’

Michael Blackburn: ‘…in the meantime a big charity that relies as much on state funding as on voluntary public donations has reminded us that ten out of every nine children in the UK are living in poverty and something must be done so they’ve launched a campaign to raise a few grand to solve the problem as well as calling for some “predistribution” to make us all more equal and…’