Unlike despotisms, modern democracies are not supposed promiscuously to accumulate property and then charge their taxpayers to maintain it. But that is what they do. Governments are always trying to extend their responsibilities and their estates, and it is very hard for parliaments to reign them in.

The Honourable James Buchan born 11 June 1954 is a British novelist and journalist. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College Oxford and began his career as a Financial Times correspondent writing from the Middle East Germany and the United States. Biography
Buchan is the son of William Buchan 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir and grandson of John Buchan 1st Baron Tweedsmuir the Scottish novelist and diplomat.