London | Barely three months ago, Britain voted in a majority Conservative government. You remember the Conservatives, right? Shrink the state, cut the welfare bill, slash red tape, reform the labour market, encourage competition and let the private sector flourish?

That was in the world BC (before coronavirus). This selfsame Tory government is now funding employers' wage bills, expanding welfare payments, subsiding rents and looking at part-nationalisation of Britain's airlines and probably its railways. A program that socialist Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn would be proud to call his own.