It is rare to find two economists who can agree on anything, but in March 1981 364 British economists agreed to write a letter to the Times condemning the fiscal tightness of the budget put forward by Margaret Thatcher and her chancellor of the exchequer, Geoffrey Howe.

Twenty-five years on, the 1981 budget is often regarded as having represented a turning point in British economic and political history, and as an important step in the country's transformation from the "sick man" of Europe in