George Osborne came to office four years ago adamant that reducing the ratio of public debt to GDP by 2015-2016 was his most urgent priority. In his forthcoming Autumn Statement, he will have to admit that, in broad terms, it is still rising and not far short of 100%.

However, the UK has borne a far higher burden without national disaster. After the Napoleonic Wars, for example, the debt burden amounted to 260% of GDP. What is more, now that the British economy is growing steadily, the threat represented by the public sector's liabilities is greatly reduced. This is a lesson that policymakers across the Channel appear to have missed.