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For me, the lowest point came after the appointment of the widely respected Kevan Collins as educational recovery tsar, brought in supposedly to deal with the ravages of disrupted schooling on a generation of children. Collins determined it would cost £15bn to fund pandemic catch-up. Rishi Sunak, as chancellor, offered £1.4bn. So a presentation was prepared, and Sunak and others in Downing Street were shown how the failure to invest £15bn in the future of this blighted cohort of children would end up costing more than £160bn down the line in welfare and criminal justice. Sunak still refused to pay any more than £1.4bn (bear in mind that he spent £840m helping along a second wave of Covid with his “eat out to help out” scheme). Collins resigned in despair.