The attention given to the letter to the Observer yesterday drawing attention to the need for a Plan B for the economy given the obvious failure of the government's economic policy, to which I was a signatory, has resulted in a backlash of comments.

Some are ridiculous: it seems that the best most on the right can do is quibble about the qualifications of those who wrote the letter.

But where comment is supposedly of a higher order, moving on from the level of insults to the level of supposed insight they're little better. Take this, in the Telegraph (inevitably), as typical:

Ruth Lea, economic adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group and a former Treasury economist, saw drawing up a plan B as "incredibly unwise". She said: "It's far too early to change course."

No doubt some said that on the Titanic too.