One of those weird occasions when we find ourselves agreeing with Polly Toynbee

Quite which time honoured phrase to use here - from the mouths of babes and sucklings or possibly something about emperor’s new clothes - doesn’t matter so much as the actual point being made.

I doubt the British government has learned the lesson: never again run down the country’s public health defences.

Entirely so, we too think that government won’t learn the lesson here. Which is that communicable diseases are a problem, one that needs management and the state an its employees are a vital part of that solution.

Which means that whatever - and whoever - it is that replaces Public Health England should be restricted to working upon the problems that stem from communicable diseases. Rather than the recent decades long haranguing us all about lifestyle diseases. What we smoke, eat and drink are important things, no doubt about it, but they are also personal and both the benefits and costs accrue to us as the individuals doing those things. They are not public health matters that is, even as they are matters to do with the health of the public.

We should indeed return to where the public health authorities deal, exclusively, with those matters where there are third party effects to decisions. To sewage and drains, to epi- and pan- demics, to where public actions, collective public actions that is, are actually required.

That is, let us have a public health service instead of bureaucrats mithering us about the size of chocolate bars.

Tune in some time next decade for our next agreement with Ms. Toynbee.