"Likewise, I say unto you," runs Luke 15:10, "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents".
Well there will be rejoicing this morning, because this blog's least-favourite economics commentator, Aditya Chakrabortty, seems to have had a Damascene conversion.
There has been nothing but ridicule, calumny and disparagement for Mr Chakrabortty in the past, for his ludicrous belief that the government can cure its economic ills merely by borrowing a bit more money. So I nearly choked on my home-made muesli when I read in his G2 column the following astonishing revelation:
". . . on the other (hand), you have the equally false position staked out by Ed Balls: that with a wave of a Keynesian wand we can be magicked back to 2006."
If I were a proper writer I'd be able to mimick one of those expostulations beloved of comic book characters, a kind of spluttering onomatopeia of the "WEURGHHLP!?" variety.
In a nano-second Chakrabortty has abandoned his former delusion and made a last-ditch grasp for reality's slender reed. Suffice to say that he has exhausted my capacity to render astonishment in print.
I know I should merely welcome this about-face and leave the carping for another day, but - if neither austerity nor neo-Keynesianism are the answer, what is?
It would be good if Chakrabortty could tell us soon.
