Something which is painful to watch is the UK Labour Government getting pounded and losing the support of the electorate when it is actually doing the right thing.

There is no question that spending on the welfare state is out of control. A quarter of adults are not disabled but apparently they are.

A large proportion, almost half in Northern Ireland, of new car registrations including luxury as well as basic cars are supplied through a tax-advantaged scheme originally devised to provide those with profound difficulties to be independently mobile but now propelled by clever management and plentiful bank finances to be something clearly inappropriate.

Have people unable to work because of mental health issues really tripled in the last few years? Yes is the technical answer but that answer makes no sense.

The Labour Government is trying to grapple with this, as well as an over-large public sector bureaucracy in order to ensure people with real need can get help, people who can work are put on a sensible pathway towards that end and the cost of the system is not so great that other public services are crushed.

Labour’s failure is not to have gone too far but to have gone not far enough. For example, to bring public sector pensions within the scope of things we don’t want to talk........

© Herald Scotland