Sir, – Your Editorial (October 14th) characterises the role of the Fiscal Advisory Council as being to “speak truth to power”. That characterisation is based on one key assumption: that the severe austerity prescriptions emanating from the council are correct and are indeed “the truth”.
Given that every single austerity-driven forecast to date has been wrong and that every single austerity-driven prescription has had to be revised in light of reality, that would seem to be a very tenuous and dangerous basis on which to gamble the future of our society. – Yours, etc,