LAST WEEK Tony Blair professed bafflement at the rise — on both sides of the Atlantic — of popular movements by people who in Blair’s view choose to “rattle the cage”.

I think this is a mischaracterisation. Those who have been energised into supporting Sanders, Corbyn and movements such as Podemos and Syriza want to break the cage, ending the failed policies that continue to dominate and distort so much of our national discourse. What these movements represent is a desire and hope for something better. I don’t think that is baffling at all.

In two weeks the Budget will see another repeat of the regular farce of Chancellor George Osborne announcing old targets missed (again), new targets no-one expects to be met and earnings growth forecasts that will fail to materialise. There will be a series of promises in his speech that will make headlines and prove to be empty, claiming a “march of the makers,” that the economy will be rebalanced and there will be higher wages. The reality is that manufacturing output is significantly lower now than in 2008.