To politicians, that is:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, today questioned whether the public would be ready to accept years of austerity for the sake of repairing the economy.

And Dr Williams warned that it would be more difficult for politicians to demand sacrifice from the public if it appeared that the burden of austerity measures was not being borne equally by different parts of society.

In an interview conducted before this week’s General Synod in York, Dr Williams insisted he did not worry about “being a nuisance” to politicians.

Of course, you can only be an effective nuisance to people who are not ignoring you; since even the Church of England ignores Rowan, it is a little optimistic of him to think that politicians won’t.

His pronouncements on economics – of which he knows next to nothing – would appear rather more credible if his labours the Church of England – of which he should know at least something – were bearing fruit. They are not.

Perhaps he finds it easier to be a merchant of leftist egalitarian claptrap than to coherently preach the Gospel.