Increasingly, the default reaction to difficult problems that look unlikely to disappear is to set up a review or inquiry. We are currently experiencing a torrent of both, dominated most recently by the need to understand what led to catastrophic loss of life in Grenfell Tower. Here, the outcome of the Hackitt review has coincided with the public hearing stage of the Moore-Bick inquiry.

The recommendations of reviews and inquiries often end up being ignored, cherry-picked for easy wins or watered down.