Eighty-year old Sir John Major does not appear to be enjoying a peaceful retirement. Judging by his frequent tetchy interventions in public life, the former prime minister is far from a happy bunny.

Sir John’s latest outburst was not on his usual hobby horses of the iniquities of Boris Johnson or the horrors of Brexit, but came in a speech – delivered to the liberal Prison Reform Trust at the Old Bailey of all places – that will give comfort to the criminal community. For