Ten-year sovereign yields dipped below 2pc during the last week of 2011. As Chancellor George Osborne often points out, UK state borrowing costs are now similar to those of Germany. In fact, they are at their lowest since the late 19th century. For the Tory high command, benign market interest rates are the ultimate justification for their "austerity" programme. The coalition has apparently convinced global investors its commitment to fiscal probity is deadly serious. Labour's economics team and media cheerleaders conversely claim, ad nauseum, that the government has cut public spending "too far and too fast". The ... (full story)