My dad gave a speech in the early 1950s which got the attention of the local newspaper: "MONSTROUS AND IMMORAL" Says Local Surveyor. Probably he was appealing the rejection of a planning application, but I was about 9 years old and didn't understand.

Still. the headline has stayed with me ever since. And from Britain's fights to retain bits of its empire, nuclear weapons, Thatcher's destruction of the welfare state, New Labour's "Intensely relaxed" attitude to the hyper-rich, the invasion of Iraq, the destruction of civil liberties, the demonisation of Islam... You get the picture? Each year the Briitsh state has done so many things decidedly more monstrous and immoral than reject a planning application - which, for all I know, might have made my father a great deal of money, if his rhetoric had changed the mind of the planning tribunal.

"Monstrous and Immoral". What a sound-bite! If only my dad hadn't thought of himself a Liberal, the old rogue might have had a succesful career as a politician.