Public sector reform - bias that must be challenged

IT is a relatively minor detail in the way we run our country, but it tells a hugely disturbing and disheartening story.

It may also tell us more than we might care to acknowledge – or accept – about how we got into our current difficulties.

One sector of society – the private sector – will feel that it represents the stasis, the entrenched and destructive privilege that is a barrier to making this country more competitive. They may even feel that the figures we publish today represent corrupt insider trading. It is unlikely, however, that they will be too surprised.