My London-based friend Niels Jensen has not written much this summer, but back from a long vacation he has added to our thoughtful conversations, and I commend his recent missive. There may be rather more Over My Shoulder postings this month, as it seems people are getting back into the swing after a fairly sparse August. Feast or famine? “Having spent much of the summer on a mountain side in Mallorca where there is not much else to do but read and think, I have given a great deal of thought over the last few weeks to what I call ‘root problems’ versus ‘symptoms’. Excess leverage in UK households or Spanish banks is a symptom, not a root problem. If we are going to give ourselves an odds-on chance of disentangling the almighty mess we have created for ourselves, we must begin to address the root problems in earnest. ‘Fixing’ symptoms fixes nothing. All you achieve is to kick the proverbial can another 10 metres down the road. "A root problem, on the other hand, is usually a policy mistake created by policy makers – not as a result of any ill intentions but because our political leaders are often misguided or misinformed. So let’s jump straight in. I have identified five policy mistakes all of which must be sorted out but none of which are straightforward.”