“It has been true in the U.S., for a long time, that most voters want to cut government spending, yet spending inexorably rises. It turns out that this is more or less a universal phenomenon: government spending increases irrespective of voters’ desire that it do so. Why this is true is a large topic, but it seems that at least part of the answer is that the New Class that has sprung up across the modern world is still firmly in the saddle and is exploiting the rest of us at an ever-increasing rate.”