ISN’T it time Business Secretary Vince Cable stopped trying to salve his conscience for supporting a repressive administration fit only for the Middle Ages, by constantly referring to “the situation we inherited”.

Isn’t it also true that his muchvaunted reputation for perception and understanding has turned out to be a figment of some manifesto writer’s imagination?

He has turned out to have little more notion than the rest of us about where we go from here.

In support of that statement let me point out that when someone manages to have an idea, it is presented to the House of Commons without being thought through, resulting in, at best, a U-turn or it just fizzles out for lack of interest.

Time to melt back into the scenery, and be thought of as a fool, Mr Cable, rather than persevere and come to be thought of as an idiot.

D Lonsdale, Ripon.