Our debt is utterly unsustainable

The day has come - Gordon Brown has made the admission we have been waiting for - withdrawing his mantra of "Labour investment" for a more modest plan of cuts in public spending when the economy gets back on its feet.

Forecasts for this financial year show public borrowing levels at untenable levels, levelling at 12 per cent of our GDP reaching £175 billion. Understandably, public spending has increased sharply, in line with Keynes' thinking, to stimulate demand. However, our deficits are becoming worrying.

Rest assured, we will be paying for the cost of the recession for years to come. Increases in taxation will be the way to compensate for those huge deficits.

Recessions will always come and go. But, what we can do is learn from our mistakes - to afford public borrowing, we need to build up surpluses in times of economic growth for times of depressing economic meltdowns.