To stay popular with the public – and his backbenchers – he’ll need to make big changes fast. That means changing the way the government borrows

A Labour leader arrives, shirt and smile ironed into place, in his hands a big idea. He has polished one slogan, prepped three anecdotes, memorised eight bullet points. He wants more cash for vital services, or workers to have a stake in their employers, or to take some utility into public control. Not so big an idea, really, but, right on cue, the attacks come from almost every side – breathless lobby reporters, sententious columnists, zombie Blairites. And they all agree on one fatal thing: the bond markets will never wear it.

The death sentence having been pronounced, all that remains for the politician’s proposal is a pauper’s funeral.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist