Attempts to cut cards leaves the government with a losing hand

The government has stumbled into a crisis of its own making by trying to mug pensioners.

Sometimes in politics, an event or action will grip the public imagination and nothing will dislodge it. Irrespective of how it might be represented or explained or mulled over, it passes into contemporary folklore and it takes on a symbolic life of its own.

For often complex reasons, the public’s perception hardens and becomes unshakable and immovable. ...