Don’t make public servants scapegoats for our financial fiasco

I WAS at a party the other night. Lovely affair, generous host and hostess, plenty of food and drink (we were taking a taxi home). And not, by any means, a left-wing group, although they were all utterly charming.

Naturally, despite the conviviality of the evening, all we could talk about was the recession — how suddenly it had come upon us, how frightening it was, whose fault it was. And here’s an interesting thing. I certainly wouldn’t say that the Government’s performance throughout our current difficulties was wildly applauded by this particular social gathering — far from it, in fact. But every downturn needs a real scapegoat, it seems.

And it’s becoming clearer and clearer that for a great many ordinary, decent people, our scapegoat is going to be the public service.