WHY, asked David Cameron on October 10th, should poor youngsters without jobs receive housing benefit when so many older working people are now living with their parents? Surely the under-25s should be stripped of their entitlement to benefits. This is what passes for egalitarianism in today’s zero-sum political environment, and the prime minister earned a cheer from delegates at the Conservative Party conference. But he is on to something about British society.

The number of Britons aged between 20 and 34 still living at home has increased by 28% to 3.2m since 1997, despite little change in the size of the population of that age bracket. The trend is accelerating: over the past year alone the number has increased by 6%. Around one in three young men and one in six young women now lives with their parents.