18 SEPTEMBER 1993, Page 25

Capital, capital

KENNETH CLARICE has to start some- where, but the cash freeze he proposes for public sector pay is a ragged start at best. This Government works on the over-simple notion that capital spending is good but current spending is bad — which is why, in last autumn's spending round, not one cow was slaughtered. School buildings are capi- tal, teachers' salaries are current, a formula for overbuilt schools and dud teachers. Pay freezes, like delayed-action budgets, can do no more than postpone trouble and are lucky to do that. A wage is a price and in the end will be set in the market.