Normally Derrick Holt would be absolutely right about spending in a recession (Oxford Mail letters, September 10).

Unfortunately, this requires a Government not to overspend during the good times (as Tony Blair has now belatedly admitted was done).

Governments are also bad about differentiating between investment (such as the planned high-speed rail link) and wasting money (such as the increase Blair agreed in the billions we pay to the EU).

Paul Wilson, Kennedy Close, Oxford