Before answering it in the context in which it was intended, it might be useful to address the question in much more general terms by considering a personal economy. Many of us chose at the age of sixteen to make ourselves less well off by avoiding an unskilled job and spending many years studying instead. At the end of the many years we found ourselves better off because we had skills and certificates. The same applies to people who took a badly rewarded apprenticeship and then got a good income.

Before addressing the question in the context of the Coalition it should be pointed out that they are only tinkering with the problem and that the obvious thing to do is to dump the EU. This would enable us to tackle the Budget Deficit and then get started on the National Debt.

The Question. Explain how making people worse off is good for the economy.
The Answer. The people are already worse off, we each have a share in the Budget Deficit, poor economic growth and the National Debt. What Labour proposes is to borrow even more money to sustain previous prosperity.

Keynesians (unreconstructed or not) often remember only a part of Keynes’ ideas. As well as his belief in spending your way out of a ‘slump’ he also advocated that in the good times, governments should take the opportunity to get rid of debts. This was not done by the previous government.

May I ask another question – no postcards and no prizes.

Is it sensible, at a time when we have run out of money, to increase the EU budget?