Too little, too late. If there is a single phrase that should be banned from the political lexicon, that’s the one, typically expressed as a world-weary sigh in response to the emergence of some long-delayed Government initiative. The big challenge for Opposition speakers is when the initiative – belated and all – is undeniably a Good Thing. It can’t be ignored, so they are obliged to welcome it. The only way to wrangle this cruel dilemma is to agree that something has been done but to immediately denigrate it as “too little” and “too late”. So although it’s undoubtedly a public good, it’s no good to anyone now because someone sort of suggested something a bit like it in 1996, so what’s it worth now. They may have a point and damage may have been done by the delayed response. But a Good Thing is never too late.

So here is an admission. I shouted the stupid phrase (with expletives) at a newspaper headline on Sunday morning. “Split homes into flats, minister to tell older voters,” blared the Sunday Times.

“Older people will be encouraged to divide their family homes into flats under a radical new Government plan to boost the housing supply,” said the text. Radical? New? It’s absolutely neither.

Minister for Housing James Browne knows that because the report notes that the plan mirrors a British........

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