• EVERY time some scandalous failure of government provision emerges, it prompts a quote from the Whitehall department concerned which glibly recites what they are spending.

“We have invested £123million/£1.6billion to resolve this problem.”

Such sums involved mean nothing to most of us. Is it equivalent to three town houses in Kensington?

Does it equal the amount one of our mega-billionaires’ wealth has increased since the pandemic outbreak?

And it invites the obvious response: “Well it’s not enough, then is it?”

AB HALL, WC1