But its very success is a cruel political conundrum. As soon as you start to solve a social problem, it ceases to be a problem and no one is interested any more. But it's only now beginning to roll out. That's why so much capital has lain unspent. Advertising for bids, sifting through, auditing, agreeing, employing and training staff takes a disappointingly long time.
Many ministers wince as they watch it.
Those older and wiser ministers now say this to their leaders. Make no needless boasts. Turn down the hyperbole. Tell Gordon not to do it again when he unleashes his great burst of money in his comprehensive spending review next week. Tell him not to promise too much too soon.