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Recent work on the engines of active galactic nuclei jets suggests that their power depends strongly and perhaps counter-intuitively on black hole spin. We explore the consequences of this on the radio-loud population of active galactic nuclei and find that the time evolution of the most powerful radio galaxies and radio-loud quasars fits into a picture in which black hole spin varies from retrograde to prograde with respect to the accreting material. Unlike the current view, according to which jet powers decrease in tandem with a global downsizing effect, we argue for a drop in jet power resulting directly from the paucity of retrograde accretion systems at lower redshift z caused by a continuous history of accretion dating back to higher z. In addition, the model provides simple interpretations for the basic spectral features differentiating radio-loud and radio-quiet objects, such as the presence or absence of disc …