Ben Simpson: We advisers must navigate political 'shifting sands' on social care

The conclusion of the furloughing scheme seems an appropriate moment to pause for breath after 18 months of almost unprecedented government intervention.  Set in any context, let alone the preceding 40 years of comparatively ‘small' government, the numbers involved are staggering. Who can say what the reaction to the amount of government spending might have been, had it been John McDonnell signing the cheques rather than Rishi Sunak? My statement isn't quite as loaded as it might appear, rather I merely seek to underline the extent to which the pandemic has shifted politics in our countr...