Quite a "quit quilt quick" quip

Will Hutton, a director of the Work Foundation and co-author of their latest report "Making the UK a Global Innovation Hub" , says: "Britain's patchwork of institutions, networks and public agencies is not fit for purpose. The state must take the lead on this because confidence among businesses is so fragile at present. The government has already recognised the importance of this agenda but the time has come to make it happen."

So what is his solution? He said the task was to "create a network of institutions, processes and methodologies that will spur both the magic of innovation and the tough task of its development and commercialisation".

Replacing a patchwork by a network? Yeah, that's gonna work. The real difference is state ownership.And if that ever made an improvement we would have gone down that route long ago.

Confidence amongst business is fragile because of the increased level of state interference since 1997. During that time state spending has risen from £350bn to £700bn, while tax receipts have risen from £350bn to £530bn, give or take a few billion in each case.  The £170bn difference is the reason business confidence is fragile.

Why would a company invest in a country where the state is going to have to raise all taxes by 33% to break even on an annual basis, and that before it starts to repay the money it currently owes?