I love it when Kaletsky makes statements that I totally dissagree with. Now even more confident that I am right. The central banking system is running out of liquidity to lubricate the system. This was in your own paper yesterday.
Be afraid..be very affraid.

Brian Anderson, Edinburgh,

Has it occurred to Mr Kaletsky that the Chancellor might have access to more data than he does?

Sterence, Oxford,

On the day Kaletsky's article appeared in The Times suggesting things werent so bad and inflation is only 5%, the paper put its price up by about 15%. Who are we to believe?

Daniel Austin, London,

If you suddenly remove a huge amount of the money circulating in a economy it is bound to result in large unemployment. Do not forget that other countries are having similar problem so competition for exports is greater. The fall in the pound will help ex[porters. How far it will fall is a worry

Chris Stuart, Carentan, France

Don't worry. Evenwithout manufacturing, tangible exports and high levels of welfare claimants we'd be ok. Don't forget that we have the City of London, the world's financial centre.God knows what they export but they have served us well enabling us to borrow loads from theworld and that can't be bad

Shaun, Kingston,

The chancellor is right. We have a major crisis. A generation has has it too easy with cheap borrowing, large debts, throw-away products and too much leisure but not learned to save, make do or use its initiative to find a job or create new business. We cannot blame him or Gordon Brown but ourselves

Bill, Cockermouth, UK

So! all you optimists will of course be able to inform us of where the 'growth' is going to materialise from in the future now the ATM in the back garden is flashing out of use,and credit is a dirty word.
Your upbeat assumptions are nothing more than wishfull thinking I'm afraid.

antony Graham, southport, England

Journalists positively spinning the figures whilst the chancellor fesses up. Something's not right...

Tim, Brighton,

You forgot that the first priority of politicians is themselves. What Darling sees is no profits in the building industry, non in high street sales and no chance of extra taxes on the power companies. The "gloom" is that he will have no tax income. So it is the worst scene FOR HIM in 60 years - see?

Colin Davison, Leeds, UK

"5.4 per cent unemployment "?......where did that figure come from? Double it and add some and you may be getting there. 26% of the population of Iverpool alone live on benefits and benefits in my book equals unemployment by any other name.

judy, Liverpool, England

Anatole we are in fact as badly off as 60 years ago when we were forced to go cap in hand to the US and ask for the biggest loan in our history. Ironically we only just finished paying it back and 'Hey Ho' we are right back where we started but now owe even more. What a useless government.

D Case, Newquay,

Real unemployment, including those who want to work but who do not qualify for and are not receiving Jobseeker's Allowance, is well in excess of 20%. Brown achieves 5.6% unemployment through these means and the creation of millions of poorly paid part-time jobs. His gift for stealth knows no bounds.

Melchet, Edinburgh, UK

Why do we have a Solicitor running our Treasury? surely there must be some member of the Cabinet with financial training. Each Government departmeny should be lead by an expert who knows what they are doing. You wouldn't have a Butcher operating in a hospital would you?

Stone, Enger, Germany

It's funny to read Mr. Kaletsky's take on "basic ignorance of economic facts and figures." and its consequences when he overlooks the question Are any of the economic facts and figures actually calculated the same way they were 60 years ago? if not what are the results when you do?

Steve Elkins, Raleigh, USA

"Social and political conditions are now incomparably better than they were 30 years ago."
Absolutely disagree. I can remember the 70s as well as you K and with all the bad points you list life was still better then than now. Space restricts mentioning the good things and as for education. Really??

Steve, Chester,

I have long believed that most MP's are idiots and that includes all the present Government ministers. Darling's recent comments and Kaletsky's excellent article just confirms that. God help us all!

David Bennington, Ruislip, UK

Perhaps he meant to say we had the worst Chancellor for 60 years and now we have the worst PM for 60 years

SH, Leeds,

Mr. Kaletsky should know better than to trust pure statistics! Britain is an empire built out of credit, out of borrowing & buy-now-pay-later...our lives are hurried harrassment, goods cheaper, made in China, free time gone, mortgages ubiquitous - jobs are service work. Where is life quality?

Chris. Fulker, Jiji Township, Nantou County, Taiwan

You ain't seen nothing yet!

R James, Clifton, UK

The public services pension timebomb coupled with the average indebtedness of the general population will gradually strangle any feeling of euphoria over ensuing years!
This problem may be difficult to bear in mind but will gradually grind away at our feeling of well being and security.

Jim Golightly, Prudhoe, England

It just amazes me to think that columnists after columnists think Darling has overstated the case. 2 years back columnists compared UK economy to the one in 1990 and concluded that scenarios are different and house price fall if it happens will be shallow. In hindsight they were all completely wrong

vishal, Ilford,

It is true that mortgage rates once reached 15%, briefly I think during the ERM crisis, but we all had tax relief up to our highest rate. For example, for most people this reduced a 12% mortgage to a little over 8% - not much higher than today's average.

clive mills, Bromley, Kent

Darling has got it really wrong ,even the year( 60 years ) 1948 just after the 2nd World war when the whole world was living in poverty because of the war destruction. Mr Darling has to go , he seems to be a good solicitor but in economics he scores zero. He has caused so much damage HE MUST GO.

Nicholas, LARNACA, CYPRUS

think he got his cue-cards mixed up... he was supposed to save that comment for the discussion about the english national football team later in the day

vic, london,

Oddly, the collapse in the FTSI, Gordon Brown's cancelling of tax relief on pension dividends (current cost to the market £100 Billions and growing) and the public sector pensions' deficit of £1 Trillion (that's £1000,000,000,000) seem to have been conveniently ignored by Mr. Kaletsky.

Stephen Kenny, Heswall, England

Far from overstating the doomsday scenario for the UK economy, I think the chancellor has got it right, although it would have been better to keep stum. We as a nation have gorged ourselves on foreign goods on borrowed money. We have not created wealth to pay for them. Mr Micawber springs to mind.

dudley holley, Thorpe Bay, UK

As people refer to the dodgy dealings of the banks: the subprime loan crisis came about because lenders were forced by the US government to lend to people they wouldn't normally lend to. The only reaction was to repackage that debt to spread the eventual misery. The banks cheated each other.

James Gradisher, Worthing, England

I agree with Martin of Sheffield. My immediate first reaction was that Darling was overstating the scale of the problem so that the government could then claim the credit when things did not turn out as black as forecast. ;Thank you for confirming that; Mr Kaletsky.

Sheona Hutcheson, Chesham,

Since when did a ministers lack of qualified in an area of cabinet responsibility prevent them getting the position?

Daz, Basingstoke, England

Thanks Mr Koletsky.
Praise also to The Times for printing Land Registry figures showing house prices only fell 2% in the last year. Please now challenge equally overhyped tabloids and analysts who have forgotten their statistical training in citing unrepresentative Halifax & Nationwide indices

terry, harrogate,

M Wadhurst raises an important point about pensions. Let's not forget that there was a "baby boom" in 1946. Female pensioners born then have already hit retirement age, but the big bang will come in 2011. What is HM Government doing to prepare for the foreseeable and impending pensions crisis?

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Whatever form of recession we are having, it is surely self-inflicted.
Blair/Browns lack of strategic thinking, coupled with the greed of a wunch of City Bankers and supine regulators have caused the damage. Loose credit, toxic financial instruments, commodity speculation and shorting stock.

Tim Black, Southampton, UK

Perhaps he meant we have the worst government for 60 years

bob holmes, axbridge , England

You have forgotten to mention the enormous burden of the the state and the fact that the state pension obligation is not on the goverment's books. Factor that in and things begin too look dire.

M, Wadhurst, UK

If,in the recent past, valuations had been honest,banks has insisted on a minimum 10/15% deposit and interest rates had been at 6 % the present housing situation would have been largely avoided.
The obvious is never spelled out,and I have never read this coming from a banker.

jackie, paphos, cyprus

What a lengthy article which shows only that comparisons such are these are both odious and, like this article, otiose.

Mike, Huntingdon,

The doomsday scenario would mean a return to the early 90s , the unemployment , the level of repossessions , the interest rates , the level of government borrowing , the crime levels of that time.

Hey bring the Tories back

stephen herlihy, Dursley,

I think he was trying to say "potentially" the largest threat. Who will be right in the end you or he? I seem to recall a recent article by you, suggesting that the present situation is not of grave proportions? Perhaps neither.

George Townsend, Elk Grove, USA

This is the first article in this newspaper which gives an intelligent and balanced view of our economic reality. Perhaps this was Darling's intention. If we can move onto a rational discussion of the economy then this apocolyptic outlook from the chancellor may be worth the hit.

M.Paton, Crowthorne,

In due course, when this period of economic upheaval can be viewed with more detachment, it will be recognised that the bulk of the 'crisis' was caused by the banks' avaricious, sleight-of-hand, dodgy dealing in re-packaged and suspect sub-prime loans. And little else, not even the oil price rise.

Ambatzi-Crecy, London, England

High comedy indeed. A country and media which has refused to believe a word this government has uttered in the last decade or so, has seized upon this gaff as 'ultimate truth', if only because feeds their own twisted conviction of Britain's economic and social inferiority and decline.

Geoff Harrison, Beverley, England

By presenting the Doomsday scenario over two years, when the next General Eection is due, nulabor will claim that, but for nulabor, it would have been much worse, and that the brown stuff has saved the country, for which we should all thank him with our votes.

martin, sheffield, uk