Every school had one: a golden girl or boy super-achiever who swept all before them and was voted one of the most likely to succeed, only to end up in jail or begging for the price of a cup of tea outside McDonalds.

That is the fate which appears to have befallen this Conservative Government, ahead of its impending monstering at the forthcoming General Election, whenever that may be.

What started as a promise to spend our tax pounds more wisely and to improve economic growth, following the apparently wasteful Gordon Brown era, has ended with Rishi Sunak literally begging us for money.

A year ago this month, the Prime Minister delivered a speech in which he pledged to “cement the place" of post-Brexit Britain as a "science and technology superpower” by 2030.

A breathless Government press release assured us that his “bold plan to grow the UK economy” would, “create high-paid jobs of the future, protect our security, and radically improve people’s lives through science, innovation and technology.”

Do you fancy gambling your savings? (Image: free)

Twelve months on, his Government is now running adverts on commercial radio, urging any Tom, Dick or Harry with a spare fiver stuffed down the back of the sofa, to invest it in science and technology, to help it achieve its plan.

I really don’t know where to start with something like this.

Perhaps if Mr Sunak and his four predecessors as Conservative premiers hadn’t allowed research and development investment - including in health and life science projects - to fall by a fifth over the past decade, he wouldn’t now feel obliged to pass round the metaphorical begging bowl.

Of course, Government support should not be judged solely on how much of our money it invests.

There are other ways in which........

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