Political choice is not driven solely by individuals, however powerful. Still less by party manifestos, issued to content the electorate.

Frequently, politics is governed by time, the departure of days, and by events, the arrival of actions.

In that latter context, we might place the global mass IT outage. How to respond when the first instinctive reaction is to blink in mild or intense panic.

What can possibly be happening? Is not Information Technology the benign superpower, enhancing all our lives?

But let us also contemplate days passing. Looking at our new UK Government, will there be world enough and time to effect change, that ubiquitous buzzword? Or will anxious voters detect the winged chariot hurrying near – and get even more upset?

It is commonly said that new governments have a honeymoon period. I reckon the new UK team should count on no more than a weekend break. The voters will expect that promised change.

To be absolutely fair, the pledge came with caveats from the outset. It was repeatedly stated during the election that the economy, in particular, would take time to repair.

Then the issue of legacy. In Scotland, Labour assigns twin parts to that, dividing it between Westminster and Holyrood.

On the issue of UK economic stats, the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said they had “inherited the worst economic circumstances since the Second World War”.

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