President Barack Obama suffered a big political setback in last week’s midterm elections. But that has not stopped him making political waves.

Mr Obama on Monday intervened in the debate over internet regulation, calling for a ban on so-called “internet fast lanes”. This has stirred mass outrage from America’s cable and telecoms groups that claim Mr Obama is trying to push “1930s style regulation” through the back door. Mr Obama’s instincts are right, however, even if his prescriptions only partly hit the mark.

At the heart of the debate is the issue of “net neutrality”. When the world wide web was invented more than a quarter of a century ago, its founding principle was that the internet should be a level playing field for content providers whether large or small.