A month after the looting riots that spread across England in August, David Cameron was asked to explain his approach to fixing what he had described as a sick and broken Britain. He summed it up in two words - 'tough love'.

This has echoes of the advice our late patron, Lord Sheppard, used to give to editors of this magazine. Coincidentally a nuisance to the government the last time it was led by a Conservative prime minister, he regularly reminded us to 'Criticise what ...