From secret justice to VAT, coalition U-turns take us in the right direction | Simon Jenkins

Whether it's the Cornish pasty or the Caravan Club, the politics of the climbdown show the strength of coalition government

Better a U-turn than a brick wall. Better a Whitehall stained with burnt rubber than one running with blood. One man's complete shambles – as Labour called the latest batch of coalition U-turns – is another's "outcome of further consultations". What is new? Political rectitude, like treason, is essentially a matter of dates.

What should matter is whether a U-turn is in the...