The US war that Labour doesn't want to fight

So that's that then. We're out of recession according to the latest figures. Been a funny couple of years, eh? Still, we're out of recession they say, so, we can all get back to normal now, huh?

Except of course, we can't. The economists are already talking up the dangers of the double-dip recession, the bankers are showing less willingness to come to terms with the bonus controversy than an MP denied his or her expenses sheet and only a fool (or a politician desperate for re-election) would dare to claim that the worst is definitely over.

One thing is certain. The UK's dependence on the financial sector helped to ensure that the declared recovery is based on a 0.1% growth rate for the last 3 months of 2009. So we're not exactly talking about the most robust of figures to date. Fragile would be the most appropriate way of describing the 'recovery' and it's not as though it would take very much to knock us back off course...

Meanwhile Obama's out to declare war on the banking industry and unlike other recent decisions to go to war, the current government's none too keen to be riding on the coat tails of the US on this occasion! In fact, Alistair Darling's positively distancing himself from the whole idea big time, as is London Mayor, the Tory Boris Johnson, whose own Conservative Party leaders are in turn backing Obama's declaration of war! It's a strange new world in which we find ourselves on 2010, one of shifting loyalties and alien alliances.

Meanwhile the Lib Dem's Vince Cable wants a total overhaul of the UK's economic system, an ambitious scheme that would require a radical re-evaluation of all that it stands for. One point he makes however is inherently sound whatever your particular political persuasion: if the foundations are cracked, then rebuilding on top simply risks another collapse further down the line. First step for any political party going into the forthcoming election should be a cross-party, cross industry examination of the bedrock of our financial and economic system.

Unfortunately it's far more likely that the coming weeks will see a descent into name-calling, innuendo and boasts of 'my spending cuts are better than your spending cuts'. Oh well, one good thing may come of it: at least the bankers will be able to get on with spending their bonuses in peace between now and May 6th.