As a once-prominent Labour supporter, ex-chairman of the BBC, ex-Goldman Sachs executive, friend of Gordon Brown and former adviser to prime minister Jim Callaghan in the 1970s, Lord (Gavyn) Davies is as well placed as anyone to know about dealing with economic crises.

So it was hardly surprising that his session at last week's SOLACE conference in Coventry was well-attended. During it, Gavyn – well, that was how he was introduced – delivered a graphic overview of the state of the nation's finances, how they came to be in the state they are, and whether the chancellor's policy of public spending cuts is responsible for pushing the economy back into recession.