Government is not very good at information technology. That’s something many Americans discovered last year with the rollout of healthcare.gov, but that was only the latest of many botched government IT projects, both in this country and abroad. Can government do better?

Yes, says Matt Ridley, distinguished writer on science and technology and also Conservative member of the British House of Lords (he became the 5th Viscount Ridley when his father died in 2012 and in 2013 was chosen by fellow Conservative hereditary lords to be one of the voting members of the House), in The Times of London.