The dying months of John Major's premiership have often been compared with those of Gordon Brown's time in office. Often the comparisons haven't quite worked (for one thing, Major's opposition -- Tony Blair -- was much more popular than David Cameron).

But one comparison can be made today. Just as unemployment was falling for some 22 months under Major before he was ousted, so we now learn that it fell by 34,000 from March to May this year.

Yvette Cooper is surely right to question, as our own Danny Blanchflower has done, the logic of taking more money out of the economy at this crucial moment. After all, Blair and Brown were non-ideological in their approach to fiscal policy in 1997/98, sticking to Tory spending plans.

The same cannot be said of the coalition.

Subscription offer: Get 12 issues for just £12 PLUS a free copy of "The Idea of Justice" by Amartya Sen.