You cannot defend the indefensible

By the time you read this column, the pre-Budget pantomime will be reaching a fever pitch.

The great mythical army of champagne-swilling, tax-avoiding, fast car-driving, NIMBYish wealthy types  have now been magically transformed into the real villains of the deleveraging age. They have also become the subject of much tussling between the coalition partners, with the Lib Dems defining increased taxes on the super rich as a red line which must be crossed while the Tory Right fights a desperate (and sometimes disunited) rearguard action that consists of two counterattacks. The first is that demonising the wealth creators is counterproductive (true, but what on earth do they e...