Osborne’s dire warning

This morning’s headlines are apocalyptic: “Global economy on the brink”, “Six weeks to save the Euro”, “Collective action needed now”. The unifying theme is the lack of leadership in the Eurozone: someone must grasp the nettle, say external politicians and commentators.

Meanwhile, Charles Moore points out, with typical understatement, that Europe is leaderless by nature: no one is in charge and that is its tragedy. Moore doesn’t mention the European President, who could, conceivably, offer direction and insist on fiscal discipline; but Herbert Van Rompuy is yet to meet that challenge. You wonder if someone of Tony Blair’s international standing might have succeeded where Van Rompuy has so far failed. Perhaps, but Europe’s political exhaustion seems to be total in the face of this crisis.  

The Eurozone’s difficulties obviously pose an enormous threat to global recovery, but they provides an opportunity for other governments to deflect attention from domestic inertia. David Cameron wrote a much