I HAVE never been one to advocate socialism in any form, but I’m now beginning to think that maybe the state should take more of a grip on things for everyone’s benefit.

Hindsight is perhaps proving Maggie Thatcher got it wrong when she deregulated all and sundry and triggered the era of frenzied competition.

Take, for instance, the buses in Bucks. Actually, don’t take them because they are largely too expensive for my liking and too confusing. Competition means the customer can buy a return ticket but then be unable to use it when another bus firm takes him home.

Then there’s energy prices. It all sounded so alluring when we were promised we could shop around for better prices. But in reality it means we probably end up paying more if we don’t constantly switch providers.

Exciting deals are offered to new customers but loyal long-serving ones can easily end up paying a lot more if they are not constantly on their toes.

And then there’s the nightmare of interest rates, currently set by the Bank of England. Every month a committee decides whether or not to raise or decrease them, and mortgage customers are left to speculate and gamble on the market. Should they take a fixed rate, a tracker or do nothing? How on earth do most people know... and yet it could mean the difference of a fortune every year for them.

Normal people lack the expertise to play these games. We need Government to step in and protect us from our own naive errors, but instead they let us flounder.

Less choice and more intervention to keep prices down would suit us. Freedom of choice is freedom to take unintentional risk and bring ruin down upon yourself.