At last, a government response to the financial crisis that is actually working. Am I referring to last November’s VAT cut? Of course not; it has been as ineffectual as we all said it would be. Those loan guarantee schemes for struggling small businesses? Nope, still very little sign of them, I’m afraid, months after they were announced and re-announced. Quantitative easing? Oops, sorry, much of the first wheelbarrow load of new-minted cash has disappeared abroad, to foreigners who jumped at the opportunity to offer their gilt holdings back to the Bank of England — while the Bank has been struggling to sell new gilts to investors perturbed by signs of a rift between the Governor and Downing Street.
No, on most fronts, things are more pear-shaped than ever. But the successful policy I’m talking about is Gordon Brown’s campaign to persuade us that it’s better to vent our anger on bankers than on him.
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