Arthur, you continue to deflect the thrust of what that ill-informed, overpaid buffoon was saying.

He wasn't attempting to make a comparison between now and the 80's - you brought that in - and it has nothing to do with what he was saying.

He said that the recession has made most people better off because anyone who is paying a mortgage has benefitted from the reduction in interest rates which has happened as a result of the recession.

That's nonsense - unless you have a mortgage which tracks the BoE B/R, you haven't benefitted at all from the rate reduction. The PM's outrage and Lord Bollock-Brain's resignation are a clear indication of the paucity of his argument.

But I do agree that we are, in the main, better off than we were when interest rates floated around 15%, but that's due to a number of factors.

My wife and I both work - very hard and for long hours - and I assure you that the recession has not made us 'better off' in any way, rather the reverse. In the case of those who can't work, or who choose not to, or are in retirement, I can't comment - I've worked for the whole of the 47 years since I left school up to the present day, so I have no experience of living that way. Unlike Lord Head-Up-Own-Arse, I wouldn't deign to pontificate about things of which I have no experience.