Where do the civil service get all their brilliant ideas? Perhaps from the workshops they run for mandarins billed as “bringing the world’s leading thinkers to Whitehall”. On 30 May the Treasury is inviting in AC Grayling, number one on Guido’s list of 10 people who’ve been driven mad by Brexit, to address staff. Twitter’s nutty professor, who has called Brexiters “vermin“, sought a general strike to oppose Brexit and alleged other ultra-Remainers were being “silenced” by forces of the state, will be speaking as part of the Treasury’s “Thought Experiment” series. The Treasury tell Guido their speakers are balanced. Grayling certainly isn’t being silenced by forces of the state, they’re giving him a platform.

A few days earlier, on 24 May, civil servants at BEIS will be addressed by Paul Mason. The mad Corbynista is giving a speech titled “Economic History” as part of the department’s “Alternative Approaches to Economics” series. Yes, the leather-jacketed revolutionary hero of the insurgent left will be coming in to share his wisdom with the heart of the government machine. These events are taking place during the working day. Don’t civil servants have anything better to be doing?