WORST FOR 60 YEARS

WE shall probably not know until some time next week what was the precise purpose of Alistair Darling's interview in The Guardian yesterday. Was it a “scarcely concealed” attack on Gordon Brown by the Chancellor of the Exchequer -- as Vincent Cable, the LibDem's astute financial spokesman, thought - or a planned attempt at massaging public opinion in advance of next week's launch of the government plan for surviving the severe economic downturn expected later in the year? Or both? We can certainly rule out that it was an accident of timing that led to it being published on the eve of the resumption of government tomorrow.

Mr Darling's key messages were buried in a very long interview more concerned with his political career and philosophy than with the management of the Britain economy. However, when they came, the messages could not have been clearer: “The economic times we are facing are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years. And I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought.” Earlier in the week a senior Bank of England official had predicted that Britain would have two million unemployed by Christmas.

There was one other phrase in Mr Darling's interview that caught the eye: “Politics is the art of communication. If you can't communicate, then it doesn't matter if you're a truly brilliant technocrat. There are lots of people who are very good, but they just can't communicate it.” Of whom could he possibly have been thinking?