Re: "collect" –
"You notice how quiet MB has been on this subject and related items lately?"
I'm not sure I've seen him anywhere.
"Perhaps he's finally realised that his argument, of how everything that the Gov(s) have done is all good and legal and fair and honest, has all been "male bovine" all along?"
I wouldn't bet on it.
He always came across as someone who was very confident of his opinions, basically because he held them. QED they were the correct ones. I also got the sense of a snout firmly in the government trough.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
