This Thatcher settlement, like Attlee's, proved enduring. Indeed, it was formalised after the general election of 1997, when the victorious Labour prime minister Tony Blair (supported by his chancellor Gordon Brown) explicitly accepted and developed the economic and moral insights of his great predecessor.

Still, ministers in the Coalition are learning the hard way that attempts to draw clear boundaries between ministers and officials, between policy-making and delivery, are just plain misguided. The point is made in an excellent new book Conundrum: Why Every Government Gets Things Wrong and What We Can Do About It. Written by the Tory MP Richard Bacon, who sits on the PAC, and by my colleague Christopher Hope, the book is strong on relating Whitehall car crashes to ordinary people. It says: "The members of the public who elect governments will tend to decide for themselves who is to blame when things go wrong, especially if, to take one example, they missed a holiday because the Passport Agency couldnt issue a passport on time." In that particular case the Passport Agency admitted being at fault but the authors ask readers to imagine the reaction if the home secretary of the day had said it was nothing to do with him but was the result of what one newspaper called "managerial incompetence of the highest order".

Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan said the research further emphasized the importance of employers recognising workplace stereotyping. "The negative pressure of these stereotypes often result in older people ... self-selecting themselves out of the workforce," Commissioner Ryan said.

In the past two days, Aldi and Poundland have clearly demonstrated that they are now being taken seriously by consumers. Not only have they posted record results but Aldi spoke about the queues at its new store in Knutsford, which is at the heart of George Osbornes affluent Cheshire constituency, while Poundland has opened in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The image here illustrates the rules, but also shows that wave 3 does not always have to be the strongest. Knowing the variations are key in practical wave counting.