Britain is essentially a regulatory state. Central government does not drive development and change, but acts as a mediator, regulator or ‘night watchman’. The civil service and the operations of the central government machine reflect this truth. We may not have the civil service some might wish for, but we have the one we should expect. All this is deeply rooted in the evolution of the country’s unwritten constitution and its political and other institutions. It is a history that can be traced back as far as Magna Carta, and is reflected powerfully in the pluralistic distribution of power, the relative autonomy of institutions, and indeed in the ability of objectors, as individuals, associations, and indeed private companies, to use the legal system, the planning system and the political system to obstruct change.