No Pain, No Gain for Britain?
The economic historian Niall Ferguson blames John Maynard Keynes for Labour’s defeat in the recent UK election. But Labour has been running away from Keynes for years, while the victorious Conservatives’ austerity policy, which Ferguson defends, turns out to have inflicted severe damage on the British economy.
LONDON – The economic historian Niall Ferguson reminds me of the late Oxford historian A.J.P. Taylor. Though Taylor maintained that he tried to tell the truth in his historical writing, he was quite ready to spin the facts for a good cause. Ferguson, too, is a wonderful historian – but equally ready to spin when he shifts into political gear.