I think it’s the other way round.

What’s even worse is that Bedingfield is almost certainly ghostwriting for the Prime Minister.

2. Even if he were posting in the evenings or posting during the day while unpaid, it would still be wrong.

3. It is wrong not because it is paid or unpaid, because it is in working hours or not, but because it is a threat to democracy.

4. It is a threat to democracy because he works for the Prime Minister, travels with him, and the sole purpose of what he writes is to threaten critics of the Prime Minister and the government. This has a chilling effect on those who criticise, making them stop, fear and think twice.

5. When journalists criticise the government and its agents, that is freedom of expression. When the governments and its agents use their power to attack and publicly criticise journalists, that is oppression and a threat to freedom of expression.

The inability to understand this, and the constant debates about whether Bedingfield is paid by the state or whether he does it in working hours, are exactly the reason I think clear thinking should be taught at primary and secondary level in all schools. Neither of those things is the point.