If even people from the FT say austerity has failed...

There's an argument that the financial crisis was fuelled, if not started, by endless commentary in the news media.  Now Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, says this:

"Austerity has failed. It turned a nascent recovery into stagnation. That imposes huge and unnecessary costs, not just in the short run, but also in the long term: the costs of investments unmade, of businesses not started, of skills atrophied, and of hopes destroyed."

You can read the full article here, on The New York Review of Books site.  It's also apparently available on the FT site, but that of course is a pay site, which is anathema.

Why May 8 is important

Today, the Queen goes to the House of Lords to read out 'her' government's agenda for the next session.  This is important in its way but not that important as it will largely consist of a list of sometime-never initiatives that will grab tomorrow's headlines but then sink quietly into the swamp of forlorn political hopes.

Far more importantly, today marks just two years to go until General Election day when the electorate can show what it thinks of five years of pointless austerity which has seen the rich get richer, the rich pay less and less tax (quite an achievement this, given that many government donors have never paid any), the food bank movement become one of few remaining growth endeavours, energy and water cartels cease to pay any attention whatsoever to so-called official watchdogs, and bankers become far and away the biggest recipients of state handouts.

I look forward to it.