The British Social Attitudes survey, published this week, offered its usual mix of intriguing revelations. What a liberal, progressive lot we are becoming. While more than half of us were still opposed to sex before marriage in 1984, today only 30 per cent of us are. (No views were expressed as to the desirability of sex within marriage.)

Then there is the flourishing of the “public sector ethos”, especially among younger workers. As the report states: “Around two-thirds of young public sector employees now ‘strongly agree’ that their job is useful to society and gives them the opportunity to help other people.” Less than a fifth of young people in the private sector hold this view.