Rhetoric is often a “poor substitute for action”, President Theodore Roosevelt once said – but it is not totally without merit. The re-emerging struggle between socialism and freedom requires the case to be made for the latter at all given opportunities, and the Prime Minister’s speech at Conservative Party Conference is no platform to scoff at.

Gone, it seems, are the days of Theresa May’s attacks on “unfettered free markets”. Now, the Prime Minister is publicly making the case that capitalism, by a long way, is the best system on record for creating prosperity, eradicating poverty, and sustaining peace.

May’s political trials and tribulations of the past four months seem to have produced the silver lining of restoring her faith in the invisible hand – at least in rhetoric. Unfortunately, her warm embrace of free markets has not yet been translated into action. Her government’s latest policies are still characterised by state-centric solutions.

May has rightly acknowledged the housing shortage and the cost of living as the two major areas of public concern (especially for younger voters, whose frustrations went unaddressed in the Conservative’s 2017 manifesto). But her plans to tackle both issues, as laid out in today’s speech, rely far too much on government-led tweaks and changes, while not laying out any long-term vision.