Economics research is on the side of the "literally bonkers" Harriet Harman

Naughty, silly Harriet Harman! Leave her unsupervised for a few days and there she goes, spouting her usual man-hating nonsense and setting the cat among the pigeons. First she tells the Sunday Times she doesn't trust men to run the country. Then, on GMTV, she blames them for the recession. No wonder her colleagues have been muttering - within earshot of the gleeful Daily Mail - that the Deputy Leader has gone "literally bonkers".

Except that she didn't say those things. Her remark about how Lehman Sisters, as opposed to Brothers, might have fared in the credit crunch was a reference to a debate at this year's World Economic Forum which concluded (as did Ms Harman's GMTV interview) that banks run by a mix
of men and women would operate best.

In the field of economics, there is a great deal of research to back up that view. One recent study suggested that men who work surrounded by other men of similar status tend to take risks in a way that women don't - which undoubtedly has some marvellous benefits, but which, in banking, also carries a small risk that the entire world economy will be brought crashing down. Broadly speaking, economists agree that diverse groups of people are better at financial problem-solving than homogeneous ones.

Is it really so unreasonable to suggest, as Ms Harman often does, that the same is true in politics? So it seems: many people are outraged, not least John Prescott, who accused her of destabilising the Labour Party just when it most needs unity. But as our political correspondent James Macintyre has pointed out on his blog, Mr Prescott is doing quite a nice job of that himself. And anyway, the Sunday Times was dredging up a proposal she made in 2007.

Meanwhile, small matters such as the war in Afghanistan rumble on. Oh yes, and there's the tricksy detail of global recession, too. Regardless of who started it, couldn't we just let the person currently running the country get on with sorting it out?

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