Does Clegg Have A Screw Loose?

Iain Martin makes a good point in his Telegraph piece today about Clegg, which you can read here. He thinks Clegg may be stupid and it is difficult to argue otherwise. In other times one would ask whether Clegg was gung-ho. Would Clegg attack when it might be better to make a tactical withdrawal? The evidence, which consists of the way he managed the rise in tuition fees in direct contradiction to his pre-election promise, demonstrates that he does not think things through. Neither it has to be said does Vince Cable who is blowing his mouth off this evening about further cuts saying he will not agree to them and neither will he agree to a two year freeze on benefits. The main point about the Coalition is to cut the deficit and this can only be done by cutting spending, making room for tax cuts and thus encouraging those with more money in their pockets to spend more and thereby nurture growth. Simples - but not to the obtuse Secretary of Business etc.. Jesse Norman MP in the Financial Times today expressed the opinion though that the cost to the Government of capital investment is significantly less than the private sector could ever hope to achieve. Norman asserts that the Government should maintain fiscal consolidation but significantly increase capital investment at the same time. In his view £25bn of capital investment at current interest rates would cost just £250m whereas for the private sector the cost would be £375m to £500m or 50% to 100% more. He gives an example of what he means by saying that for every 10 miles of privately financed road the Government could give you 15 to 20 miles. The trouble though with Norman's point is that by Government making the investment it crowds out the private sector and thus no wealth is created for the benefit of of us all. It is to be hoped that Osborne does not listen to Norman on this point even if the latter makes sense about continuing the fiscal consolidation. Norman is of course also entirely correct about Larry Summers, Paul Krugman and the Labour party being wrong big time about how to deal with the current financial problems Labour left us with. Other problems the last Government left us with are smaller by comparison but it is good to see that the Coalition is sticking with its schools, health, welfare and other policies. Now that Ofcom have decided that BSkyB is a fit and proper licence holder the Government must not turn down News Corp if it were to rebid for the shares it does not already own in BSkyB despite Ofcom's statements about James Murdoch.