They're wrong about oil, by George

Rip up your textbooks, the doubling of oil prices has little to do with China's appetite

Someone is now required to tell the British the following facts.
The first is that things are truly, awesomely bad: homes, jobs,
livelihoods, businesses, savings and futures are all at risk. The
second is that, while the current crisis is not of the
Government's making, its policies have increased our exposure
to it. The third is that these policies must be changed in order to
limit that exposure.

That means, first and foremost, a serious cut in public spending.
There will be job cuts - mainly in the public sector - as a result.
But tax cuts to stimulate growth in the private sector can be
deployed to offset this. There needs to be a tight control of the
supply of money. Interest rates may have to go up, not down -
definitely not down.

There need to be bankruptcies because, as the late Professor von
Hayek correctly pointed out, it is only when we have these that we
have a sign that efficiency is returning to the economy. In short,
the public, indulged for so long by an economically illiterate and
cynical government, has to be told the party is over.

Some of us have felt that Mr Cameron is not the man to take this
necessary lead. His recent statements in the course of the economic
maelstrom have proved this point ever more eloquently.

Network to explore "civic function of news"

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