This financial year, the UK government is forecast to spend £4 for every £3 it raises. Never before, in peacetime, has the UK run such a deficit. This, one might imagine, would be a dominant concern in the British political debate. One would be quite wrong. The public is venting its rage over the expenses of members of parliament, instead.

This is not all bad: outrage over creative fiddling demonstrates the public’s resistance to serious corruption. Yet it diverts attention from the looming debate over the scale and financing of the state. Choices must be made. There is, one might say, no alternative.