A reader accused me of peddling “socialist tosh” last weekend when I said that companies such as the parent of British Airways had flown into the coronavirus having borrowed too heavily and paid out too much to shareholders (in the case of International Airlines Group, €4.4bn or £3.8bn since 2015).

I actually think the end result of our predicament will be more capitalism, not less, but for the next few paragraphs readers of a similar inclination might like to reach for the smelling salts.

The huge state intervention required to keep the economy from the precipice has set the left rampant. Len McCluskey, the Unite union boss who has seen his wildest dreams come true over the past fortnight, has told our deputy editor John