Enemies of the state: the 40-year Tory project to shrink public services

From schools to health inspectors, the institutions that ensure our wellbeing are under unprecedented attack. This political poison harms us all, say the authors of the new book Dismembered

Just as he reaches the end of his inspection, the environmental health officer spots the meat pies. A stack of them have tumbled on to a shelf on the floor of the storeroom, not in the chiller. A flicker of alarm crosses the transport cafe owner's face. Pies are big on his menu. He sighs. "Well, it's complicated," and the story unfolds. The pies used to be made by so-and-so but the company owners split acrimoniously and it's all a bit chaotic now.

"Ah, yes," says the inspector. "I know this one." He has the local background and, as he probes and prods, the cafe proprietor admits sheepishly that the pies arrive with a scrappy piece of paper, no official invoice, dubiously labelled "organic" with no list of contents, paid for in cash to an old chap called Gramps off the back of a lorry.

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