ON reading Bill Wiggin’s column in last week’s Hereford Times, I marvelled at his slender grasp of economics and of our recent history.

His analysis of the deficit ignores its real cause; the greed and incompetence of casino bankers who were bailed out by government to avoid a 1930s-style recession.

Interestingly during its 13 years in office the last Labour government managed four years of budget surplus according to the Office for National Statistics (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001). The Conservatives only achieved a surplus in two of the previous 18 years (1988, 1989).

His description of government cuts as ‘efficiency savings’ would not be out of place in George Orwell’s 1984.

We do need to manage our public finances wisely but the expensive cuts (sorry, ‘efficiency savings’) proposed by the Conservatives could lead us in the direction of the Greeks.

Excessive austerity has shrunk their economy, increased unemployment and resulted in an increase rather than a reduction in their national debt.

S HANCORN Peterchurch