In two of the great areas of public policy – health and pensions – recent years have brought what could not too contentiously be described as a “British exception”.

At a time when most countries are struggling to contain healthcare expenditure, the UK has taken a deliberate decision to expand it. Over nine years, spending is being raised by about half in real terms, to around 9 per cent of gross domestic product by 2008. That will return it to about the average of the old 15-country European Union after decades of underinvestment left a cheap – and often, less than cheerful – health system dogged by waiting lists, outdated facilities and outcomes from treatment that in some areas had ceased to be among the best.