So it just becomes 'look, I know you don't agree with us on social policy, but have you considered that we have made everything more expensive and that your railways work less well than they used to?'

This was their last opportunity to do big painful things at a fiscal event when they still have a long run-up between now and the general election. Pissed away.

In general, just the scope. But what makes them *harder* now than before:
- party system more complex
- more data/analysis available
- academic life much tougher
- publishers less efficient

They remain the only government in my lifetime without a theory of how economic growth happens and a determination that it definitely not be through universities, immigration, high skilled services, tax simplification, trade relations etc

"You know how British Rail was starved of investment because governments kept prices artificially low? And how privatisation has seen ridership increase with increased ticket prices underpinning much needed investment?

Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"