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In 2003, a group of London-based thinkers was among those who warned of a huge credit crunch and a surge in personal and corporate bankruptcies.
Five years on, the crisis is here and the question is whether prophetic minds like those in Britain's New Economic Foundation (NEF) can persuade a hitherto deaf political mainstream to adopt their proposed solutions.
Founded in 1986 and now fronted by policy director Andrew Simms, a political economist who trained at the London School of Economics, the foundation has described itself as a "think and do tank" with aims that include building an environmentally sustainable as well as socially inclusive economy.
Its ideas have received relatively thin coverage in mainstream financial media -- scientific journalists, whom Simms describes as comparatively "non-doctrinal," have tended to be more receptive than economic correspondents.
But "change" is the mantra of the moment. And the return to ...