Professor John McHale:

I am not sure I agree with that. I do not know them well enough to really understand their personal views on these issues but, in general, the people we have met are sympathetic and understand what the implications of the recession and the policy response to the recession have been. There can be different views about how the economy operates. One view that appears to be quite influential in the European context is the concept of expansionary fiscal contraction, where one believes the adjustments actually expand the economy. Unfortunately, it is a view that appears to have a degree of support at the European Central Bank. Each month it reiterates that doing more consolidation will lead to faster growth, and that is very unlikely to be true in the short term. Sometimes people's views on things and ideas about how the economy works can lead them astray and potentially to propose policies that can do real damage while not understanding the damage those policies are doing.

In terms of the people themselves and their own values, I do not get a sense of a lack of sympathy.