few years ago, a senior and old-fashioned civil servant startled a dinner table by announcing that he was a Freudian. “Nothing to do with sex,” he hastily announced. “On that, I think he writes some fair-old nonsense. But he’s good on politics and government. Think about it: the id and the ego – the pleasure principle and the reality principle. Most politicians are constantly tempted to indulge their ids. As officials, it’s our job to prevent over-indulgence.”