IS THIS OUR CLAUSE 4 MOMENT....

The reason I haven't been saying much about the financial meltdown we've witnessed in the past few weeks is very simple. I'm not an economist, I'm not qualified to comment at length and frankly I think the nuts and bolts of what is going on are best left to others who are au fait with finance.
But nevertheless it is kind of heartening to watch the Sunday night News and hear the pundits predicting that this really could be the end of the Thatcherite consensus and the notion that markets can be left to go their own sweet way - with no control or regulation. We have even heard Gordon Brown criticise the City bonuses and greed which have contributed to this collapse.
Now maybe it is time for the Government to take a deep breath and commit to full-scale nationalisation of the banks and finance institutions - ie what we used to call "the commanding heights of the economy" not a bail-out which as far as I can ascertain is unfortunately playing fast and loose with taxpayers' money.
LEAP - the Left Economic Advisory Panel - is suddenly to the fore in all this commentary and an emergency rally is being held tomorrow night in the House Of Commons , Committee Room 10, at 7.30pm. More details on the LEAP blog. I look forward to hearing all about it from those who live rather nearer to Westminster than I do.