This year we should be striding confidently towards the Olympics but I fear that we are sleep-walking towards a second recession and more gloom on jobs, living standards and growth as well as an ever wider gap between the north and the south.
Yet David Cameron, a wolf in sheep's clothing if ever there were one, and his party are even-stevens or sometimes ahead in national opinion polls although, to be fair, Labour won several real elections last year.
A general election is not due for three years and that will be the real test but some pundits say that Labour should abandon its principled opposition to government policies or face years in the wilderness.
The great economist Keynes once rightly said that when the facts change, he changed his mind. There is no merit in stubbornness for its own sake and denial.
But it remains crystal clear to me and many others that the government's economic strategy is failing on a huge scale.
It is based on false premises that the public sector crowds out a more dynamic private sector and that cuts in the first can unleash growth and jobs in the second as well as curbing borrowing.
Part of my job as an MP is to support smaller private companies that employ most people. But the evidence is also clear that state spending helps create trading opportunities through big ticket items such as new schools, roads and rail projects.
Yet these were savagely culled when the coalition came to office which then caused a dangerous dip in the construction industry. For all their bluster of staying the course, they have somewhat retreated by giving a small boost to such investment in infrastructure.
They began by cutting the deficit too far and too fast and they have now done this too little and too late. The amounts of money being used now are dwarfed by the original cuts. This has given us the worst of both worlds.
The term - "the State" - is bandied around as if it were some anonymous monster. But the State includes all those who tame the excesses of capitalism and provide essential services - care workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers and so on.
They are not some burden or enemy within but part of the solution to harnessing the wealth of this country through partnership with private companies. I for one don't intend to retreat on this basic point.
And nor will I ignore the social cost of this failed economic strategy. It is too high and is being borne by ordinary people who face higher prices and far fewer opportunities for their children.
I make no apology for repeating that sacrifice for the common good would be acceptable if it were truly the case that we were all pulling together.
But that is manifestly not the case. We have a million young people on the dole, more children in poverty, benefits for disabled children being slashed and rampant inequality. The bottom 30% have 3% of the country's wealth but the top third has grabbed 75%. Reforms to the banking sector have been kicked into the long grass for nine years.
The recent news that up to £25 billion is being lost by the taxpayer thanks to sweetheart deals between the tax authorities and major companies is a shocking indictment of the tax system which is punitive towards some lower paid people but soft on the rich.
Tax is the subscription working people and business pay for a civilised society. Never has the government slogan that we are all in it together seemed more hollow. Tough action should rectify this gross imbalance.
My hope is for many medals at the Olympics but I only wish I felt half as hopeful that this pathetic government would kick away the hurdles that keep far too many people on the starting blocks.
Newcastle Chronicle and Journal
| Promoted by Paul Foy on behalf of Dave Anderson, both of St Cuthbert's Church Hall, Shibdon Road, Blaydon, NE21 5PT |