Cynical of Ealing

Following an article by Will Hutton in the Observer newspaper of 03 January, arguing that the economic news was not as bad as some have predicted, the paper was big hearted enough to publish this letter from me the following Sunday, 10 January:

Is Will Hutton applying for a post as Gordon Brown's spin doctor? His claim that the UK economy is not a basket case after all (03.01.10) will no doubt be highly appreciated by New Labour, but is highly selective in the evidence cited. For example, to say that "growth in Britain from the dark days of the 1991 recession to the end of a disastrous 2009 has still averaged a solid 2.1% - higher than any of the big economies in Europe and Japan" could as much indicate how bad the 1991 recession was in the UK as how we have performed since. Similarly, to say that UK industries which have survived the recession are highly competitive is at least partly due to the lower value of sterling. The fact is that levels of public and private debt have increased dramatically under a government which paraded its claims of fiscal prudence and the cost will take many years to repay, probably under another government.