COMMENT | In Sixth Form a half-century ago, my General Paper teacher told us this thought-provoking story: a philosopher goes to a fountain in Florence at the height of summer. Seeing bums and layabouts having a siesta in the Italian sun, he announces a prize of 10,000 lira to “the laziest of the lot”.

They all jumped up barring a young man who continued snoozing. The ones on their feet each claimed they were truly the laziest. The philosopher wakes up the “snoozer” and gives him the prize money saying, “The truly lazy are never motivated by money.” Those who jumped up were cunning, not lazy. They were merely pretending.

And the cunning in our country have always had this trick up their sleeves...