Unthinkable

As the Labour Party launches Forethought, its new research centre, this may be a good moment to spare a thought for those who find themselves in the search for fresh ideas. For, in think tanks and centres for study and for research and for policy, most of them in London, there are hundreds of young men and women with wet towels wrapped round their heads trying to think the unthinkable. There are now more policy wonks in Britain than coal miners.

But thinking is a challenging vocation, and one that should perhaps be more amply recognised and rewarded. For while the best years of the think-tank industry – the glorious pioneering age of Sir Keith Joseph and Ralph Harris – may be behind it, there is still a great need for someone to come along with the idea that unlocks the door of so many modern policy dilemmas. The new John Maynard Keynes must be out there; but where?