One of Scotland's greatest economists

And he's treated quite inappropriately in a reply to this entry on the Telegraph's blog:

I suppose Brown didn't want to be remembered as a Douglas Home character

I've always distrusted people who can't explain financial and economic matters simply. For example, in finance: the debits must equal the credits. In economics: you can't have your cake and eat it.

Alec Douglas Home understood these truths:

"When I have to read economic documents, I have to have a box of matches to simplify and illustrate the points to myself."

And so cartoonists pictured the Prime Minister working out balance of payments problems with matchsticks.

The cartoonists were wrong and Douglas Home was right.

I like to think that Douglas Home spread out his matchsticks on a table in his local pub. The smoking ban probably explains Gordon Brown's economic illiteracy...