Certainly they are getting time in the international spotlight although very little is achieved for all their huffing and puffing.
 
But David Cameron and George Osborne do seem to be making heavy weather of getting their message across on taxation and borrowing policy. Perhaps we’ll get a better idea of where they stand in the days following the Pre-Budget Report.
 
I do know, however, that even the most superficial examination of Labour’s record in Government shatters any pretensions it has towards economic competence.
 
This inconvenient truth was brought home in comments this week from Andrew Goodwin, economic advisor to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, which uses the Treasury’s own economic model to arrive at its conclusions.
 
This is his take on the “shocking state of the public finances, with borrowing rising alarmingly.”
 
He writes, ”Though the government is likely to announce a package of tax cuts in the Pre-Budget Report, higher taxes and/or lower government spending are certain once the economy has been restored to health.”

Had the government been more disciplined when times were good it would have more room for manoeuvre now that we are entering recession, he adds.
 
It is true many parts of the world are heading into recession or – like the eurozone – have already arrived. But sterling’s continuing weakness signals that the world’s money markets believe that our economy is poorly placed for recovery.
 
Yet Brown and Darling have the brass neck to tell other nations how to go about their business – and smugly seek plaudits at home for doing so.