Good news: the Tories have rediscovered some of the questions. Bad news: they’re still peddling the same failed answers.

After thirty years of telling the sick, poor or despairing to pull themselves together, the Tory leadership seems to have rediscovered social responsibility. It’s a pity that most of the parliamentary party and practically all of the membership are stuck in the ‘I’m alright Jack, sod everyone else’ mode but Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Writing in the Times, Alice Mills at first seems quite upbeat: "What is heartwarming at Bournemouth is to witness the genuine conversion of a party". But then comes a long list of buts and a very pertinent question: "Where were you ... with your social consciences, for the past two decades?"

Well David Cameron was busy writing a manifesto including a scheme for people to buy their way out of the NHS.

The tired solutions include a greater reliance on the voluntary sector. I now work in it (but not for free) and know a lot of other people who do. We’re all certain that there isn’t an army of people available to work for nothing to do the things our public services should do. It is a fantasy to suggest this sector can ever take more than a tiny percentage of the load.

And then there’s ‘efficiency savings’ handing the running of services over to ‘the professionals’ (as if managers and administrators aren’t professionals). At the risk of repeating yesterday’s post, do we really want our doctors or nurses having to order the milk, pay the gas bills, organise the staff rotas or do any of the millions of other tasks needed to keep the NHS running. When would they find time to treat the sick?

Bonkers! They still pretend we can have something for nothing. As Alice puts it "The Conservatives have not even begun to work out the answers"...