Letter: Don't blame the Germans: the fault lies with the British PM and his Chancellor

Sir: In Richmal Crompton's 'William' books, Henry does not get much of a look-in, and I have never really seen him as an apologist for Norman Lamont. Yet here he is in 'William the Money-maker' from Volume 9 of the oeuvre, William the Good:

They keep sayin' why don't we save. Well, what I say is why don't they give us somethin' to save, 'fore they start goin' on an' on at us for not savin'. Not that I b'lieve in savin', he added hastily. I don' b'lieve in savin' an' I never have b'lieved in savin'. Money isn't doin' any good to anyone - not while you're savin' it. I think it's wrong to save money. Money doesn't do any good to you or to anyone else. Not while you're savin' it. It's kinder to help the poor shop people by spendin' money at their shops. How're the poor people in shops goin' to live if all the people save their money an' don't spend any of it? . . . Well, anyway that's what I think.

As does our Chancellor?

Yours faithfully,

RICHARD COHEN

London, SW18

15 September