Yale's Cameron points out that the biggest extensions of the welfare state came under de Gaulle in the 1960s and under the conservative administration of Giscard d'Estaing in the 1970s.
Its importance could increase now that a big extension to the port there has just opened.
The National Association of Manufacturers is pushing for a big extension and expansion of last year's special bonus for depreciation.
The council has already approved a big extension to an out-of-town shopping centre, Monks Cross.
If cheap, healthy young people must have insurance, their premiums will help pay for the cost of insuring the ill.Mr Obama also sought a big extension of Medicaid.
First, it would mean a big extension of Russian influence (though the time to worry about that was when striking the weekend deal).
Heathrow has proposed a big extension of its noise insulation scheme at a cost of around £700m should the third runway be developed, in a final attempt to persuade the Airports Commission of its case.
Local enterprise partnerships, the bodies bringing together local businesses and councillors to drive growth, would be expected to bid for this cash in what he sees as a big extension of localism, or regionalism.
America has the longest established asset recovery programme, which produces more than $150m a year.Seizing assets allegedly acquired through crime without requiring criminal standards of proof represents a big extension of state powers.
Think of many of the key achievements of the Blair/Brown years and you are thinking of women's achievements - from Sure Start, the New Deal for lone parents, the big extension in childcare, the increase in both maternity and paternity leave, the introduction and extension of flexible working for parents, the minimum wage, and progress on the pay gap.
