The consensus – and a fair consensus at that – is that Ed Balls has had a good war. He has punishingly exposed the illogic and perverse masochism of the school building cuts. Michael Gove, who before entering the department for education was the government’s highest flyer, now seems sheepish and cautious. He’s still standing but his confidence has taken an enormous knock.
And then came the Bloomberg speech. Widely lauded by some of the leading economics columnists including Martin Wolf and Samuel Brittan of the FT, its core plea for the government and British economics establishment not to repeat the deficit denialist errors of the past has struck a nerve. (more…)
