A LOT is expected of the Government, but inactivity over the economic crisis is not an option.

Paying for the catastrophe in the financial markets and some irresponsible banking has never been in doubt.

There is also no doubting that buying yourself out of anything is a risk. But in politics opportunities are often limited.

Taking risks that are calculated and well judged don’t always go hand-in-hand.

For Chancellor Alistair Darling, taking a gamble seems unavoidable. As your Comment column (Echo, Nov 25) pointed out “the Government couldn’t stick and let the depressing slide into recession go on”.

With increased borrowing and a sceptical Opposition and media drawing upon a boom and bust scenario that would be the hallmark of New Labour’s demise, Mr Darling’s strategy could well ride on a wave of recovery signalling bust to potential boom.

We know optimism is in short supply, but it is also the case that banking on a formula that might yield success is dependent upon an upturn in the economy that is forecast by the end of next year.

It is undoubtedly a huge gamble, but surely we expect Government to make a judgement. Was there really an option to do nothing at all?

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe, Durham.

OF the current instability of Western markets and economies, the explanation should be staring us in the face: the exponential growth of the Chinese economy.

On present trends, this will soon eclipse in both capacity and output those of the entire Western world and Japan combined.

The Chinese miracle is based on two factors: unlimited raw materials, including a subservient workforce, and massive state protection of industry.

The lesson for us in the West is that everything, post-1945, we’ve taken for granted is no longer sustainable in terms of economic reality.

Until our leaders wake up to this fact all their rescue efforts, however extreme, are just postponing the inevitable.

Marx got one thing right, if no other: free-market capitalism as currently practised (ie, primarily for the benefit of the big banks and the multi-nationals) is no way to run a toy shop, let alone the global economy.

As well as being inherently unsustainable it is also horrendously wasteful and destructive, and flagrantly exploitive and unjust.

Tony Kelly, Crook, Co Durham.