The Spectator

From their vantage point in the celestial senior common room, John Maynard Keynes and John Kenneth Galbraith must be observing current events, if not with pleasure, then at least with the satisfaction of those whose ideas have unexpectedly been retrieved from history’s wastepaper basket. Having watched financial markets repeat the spiral of recklessness, delusion and collateral damage that he first observed in 1929, Galbraith will no doubt have recalled his condemnation of ‘the euphoria of self-conceit’ and his view that free-market economics were never more than a rationalisation of vested interests by a greedy elite.

Fraser Nelson reveals Gordon Brown's new plan to bring down national debt, and begins the illustrated guide to the Brown bust. James Forsyth asks whether there'll be a manifesto commitment to privatise the banks, and reports on the demise of 42-day detention. Daniel Korski says the appointment of Sir General David Richards as head of the British Army is a good thing.  Stephen Pollard laments the awful West End. Melanie Phillips analyzes the culture war for the White House. Clive Davis imagines Gordon Brown as Sonny Liston. Trading Floor writes on environmental crime. And Americano asks whether John McCain's performance in the latest Presidential debate was too little, too late.

As Iain Martin says you couldn’t make up the fact that the Audit Commission has £10 million in Icelandic banks. Oxford University also has £30 million in Icelandic banks, the BBC reports.

The blame game Sir: While I do not flinch from looking on the Clinton era as a disaster for its neglect of the threat to global security posed by bin Laden et al and the tacit encouragement of Enron-style corporate accounting, I think blaming the Democrats for the credit crunch may be going a little too far (‘Clinton is to blame’, 4 October). The politically correct housing agenda described in Dennis Sewell’s article was not conducted in secret, or if it was it would be difficult to imagine that the post-Watergate right-wing media in the US would have allowed it to be secret for long.

We’ve uploaded a Web Exclusive report by Lloyd Evans on the latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate: “Heathrow needs a third runway”. You can read it here.

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Matthew d'Ancona reveals that Peter Mandelson consulted Tony Blair about his return to government. Theo Hobson defends the Church of England. Fraser Nelson highlights an encouraging poll for the Tories, and asks whether the Mandelson gamble will pay off for Brown. James Forsyth looks into Peronigate, and rails against the salary being paid to the head of Newham council. Melanie Phillips gives her take on the departure of Sir Ian Blair from the Met. Clive Davis details how not to behave on a train.

The Church is culpable too Sir: Will Rowan Williams start his call for ‘fresh scrutiny and regulation in the financial world’ (‘Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism’, 27 September) by glancing at the institution he heads? I am told that the 2007 Church of England target for its investment arm was 6 per cent above Bank of England base rate. It should have been clear to the Archbishop that this could not be achieved without the Church getting involved in the murky world of City finance. The Church of England was made to look even more ridiculous when the Archbishop of York called short-sellers ‘bank robbers and asset strippers’.