Ancien régime Europe certainly spent heavily on its armies and navies, and their use in war accounted for some 54 per cent of public spending in the European monarchies during the eighteenth century.

£2.7 billion is spent on the ‘carer’s allowance’, equivalent to the princely sum of £67.50 per week.

the judgement about where the boundary should fall between health care that is free at the point of use and social care that is means tested has been the subject of countless complaints, legal challenges, court judgements, and ombudsman rulings.