There’s a strange pattern in how the UK discusses policy, and once you notice it you realise it’s everywhere. What happens is that there’s a problem, often something which makes us less safe. The problem will be fundamentally a result of policy, and often something we’re ‘forced’ to endure because of laws we have created. No one feels able to step outside our existing legal or conceptual framework, and often they don’t even really feel able to name the problem. So they propose a weird solution which just creates more costs and burdens, often falling on law-abiding Brits. Then the entire debate will take place within this limited space, ignoring the real problem and real solutions.

This pattern was apparent in the weird campaign to make it harder for us to buy knives, in the wake of Axel Rudakubana’s trial. We saw it again in the summer when the government spent a huge amount of time and energy negotiating a so-called ‘one-in, one-out’ scheme with France in an effort to reduce the numbers of illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

Today’s........

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