Tuesday 19 May 2026 4:52 am  |  Updated:  Monday 18 May 2026 4:46 pm

A state of the nation tale: The National Rail Museum won’t accept a model railway set

By: Paul Ormerod

Share

Facebook Share on Facebook X Share on Twitter LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp Email Share on Email

From museums that won’t accept model railway sets to the NHS’s refusal to share data, British inefficiency is costing us billions, writes Paul Ormerod

A major problem facing any British government, regardless of who is Prime Minister, is the productivity of the public sector. 

Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its first estimates of the data for 2025. Across the public sector as a whole, it remains 3.1 per cent below what it was in the last year prior to the pandemic, 2019. Even more worryingly, it remains at virtually the same level which it was in 1997, when the estimates were first compiled. In other words, zero growth over 30 years.

There are genuine reasons why productivity growth in the public sector will usually be lower than in the private. Most public sector activity, for example, consists........

© City A.M.