Description: At the end of March last year there was a yawning gap in Ministry of Justice accounts of 2bn. The state was owed 600m in unpaid court fees, and had failed to collect a further 1.26bn in confiscation orders. The ministry told the National Audit Office there was "no chance" of recovering 900m of the money.But without a shift in basic public views about public services, it's hard to explain what has happened during recent decades. A new book, Public Service on the Brink, due out in March, can't help but expose what is missing. It sets out to be a vindication of public services, but too often becomes an uncomfortable celebration of victimhood.

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