Just imagine that a quarter of Britain's working-age population decided to call in sick for an entire year – on full pay and with the taxpayer picking up the tab. Or that it was a basic student right to keep on studying until the age of 30 – with interest-free loans all the way.
Or that the number of foreign-born citizens quadrupled in 25 years, with the option of full benefits for all, while ministers built themselves new offices costing £1million per desk.
In next to no time, Britain would be bankrupt and, in all likelihood, in the throes of civil disorder.
Not so here in Norway, though. That is the current state of affairs in this safe, clean, largely contented – and very wealthy – nation of 5.6million. So what if Britain had made better use of the same geological blessing which we share with our North Sea neighbours: massive energy reserves beneath the same seabed?
In a week when our new Prime Minister has signalled the end of Whitehall's puritanical celibacy towards oil and gas, we already have a glimpse of the potential rewards.
