LEO MCINSTRY: When Rachel Reeves entered the Treasury last summer, she boasted that her economic policies would herald a new era of dynamic enterprise and buoyant revenues.
LEO MCKINSTRY: These days the Army is a shadow of its former self with its current headcount of just 74,000 regular soldiers, meaning that it is at its lowest level since the Napoleonic Wars.
The flag of liberty is flying low in modern Britain. The country that introduced Magna Carta, pioneered parliamentary democracy and defeated Nazi tyranny has seen an alarming erosion in free speech.
LEO MCKINSTRY: Labour likes to pose as champion of human decency in British politics. How hollow that sounds after The Mail on Sunday's revelations about Minister Andrew Gwynne (pictured).