Two Eds - Better Than One?
Ed Miliband's decision to appoint Ed Balls as the new shadow chancellor - means that two former proteges of Gordon Brown are now in charge of Labour's economic policy.
Now no one is seriously suggesting that Gordon Brown and his allies created - the economic crisis the country faces today.
But he did allow the UK economy to overheat spectacularly - particularly in the housing market - and he did encourage an enormous credit boom - which was then followed by the mother of all busts.
So the charge that can be fairly levelled at Brown and Co. - is that they took their eye off the ball - and left the UK economy in a weaker state to weather the storm - than many of our key competitors.
And up until just before the general election - Gordon Brown's solution was to spend our way out of trouble - without the need to tackle the enormous public spending deficit built up under his premiership.
But the truth is Gordon Brown couldn't even convince his own chancellor - another Scot, Alistair Darling - to follow him down the path of the 'deficit deniers'.
Because Alistair Darling declared that cuts in public spending were vital and necessary - albeit on a slower and less ambitious scale - to the one now advocated by the coalition government.
In opposition Labour has come over all shy about what it would do - specifically - to reduce public spending while taking practical steps to encourage economic growth.
But that is exactly what the mainstream political parties are all committed to - to a greater or slightly lesser degree.
All now accept that public spending needs to be re-balanced, reduced or cut back - depending on your choice of language - yet there's a nervousness that maybe Ed Balls is not fully on board.
Time will tell whether the Labour leader's decision turns out to be a case - where two Eds really are better than one.
Now no one is seriously suggesting that Gordon Brown and his allies created - the economic crisis the country faces today.
But he did allow the UK economy to overheat spectacularly - particularly in the housing market - and he did encourage an enormous credit boom - which was then followed by the mother of all busts.
So the charge that can be fairly levelled at Brown and Co. - is that they took their eye off the ball - and left the UK economy in a weaker state to weather the storm - than many of our key competitors.
And up until just before the general election - Gordon Brown's solution was to spend our way out of trouble - without the need to tackle the enormous public spending deficit built up under his premiership.
But the truth is Gordon Brown couldn't even convince his own chancellor - another Scot, Alistair Darling - to follow him down the path of the 'deficit deniers'.
Because Alistair Darling declared that cuts in public spending were vital and necessary - albeit on a slower and less ambitious scale - to the one now advocated by the coalition government.
In opposition Labour has come over all shy about what it would do - specifically - to reduce public spending while taking practical steps to encourage economic growth.
But that is exactly what the mainstream political parties are all committed to - to a greater or slightly lesser degree.
All now accept that public spending needs to be re-balanced, reduced or cut back - depending on your choice of language - yet there's a nervousness that maybe Ed Balls is not fully on board.
Time will tell whether the Labour leader's decision turns out to be a case - where two Eds really are better than one.
