Before Brown's speech this afternoon, in which he promised to change the world, again, the Liberal Democrats drew ahead of him in the polls.  That is probably enough world-changing for a lot of our readers . . .  Now LibDemVoice thinks that Bournemouth was a hit.  It will certainly be more of a hit if Vince continues to defend the Mansion tax in this robust way: 

Council tax was introduced in the early Nineties as an alternative to Mrs Thatcher’s hated poll tax. It has always been unpopular with pensioners who have modest incomes and who are often reluctant or unable to claim benefit. It has become even more unfair as the valuations are now almost 20 years old and bear no relation to present house prices – so people even in the same borough can be paying the same council tax as someone with a house worth twice as much.  We have a system that is unpopular, unfair and out of date. It deserves to be axed and replaced with a system that better reflects ability to pay. That may take time. Yet there needs to be urgency in dealing with the vast and growing disparities in wealth. Property is also one of the few sources of tax revenue that cannot be hidden or avoided.  And it is one of the few ways of getting untaxed foreign owners to pay their share

Still not much sign that QE is catching on.Though Simon Ward thinks the recovery may be happening anyway through increased velocity. 

I think Chris Dillow hides a lot of pain behind graph lines converging.  Yes, private dissaving will go with public saving, if we don't want another Depression.  But that public saving will still mean spending cuts . . . won't it?

I am trying to explain why I think the Minimum wage is a good idea on the other blog - taking aim at a typical libertarian dislike of interference in a market, no matter what.