Time and again it tried to pull itself back into the shelter of the wing, but the wind was relentless.

BBC: Snake clings to Qantas plane's wing during flight

Still, if the history of Thatcherism and Reaganism teaches anything, it is that ideas which are dismissed in one decade as the preserve of right-wing eccentrics can quickly move into the mainstream when the ideological wind changes.

ECONOMIST: Britain and NAFTA: Dream on? | The