Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, has conceded that his long love affair with Prudence is over. The romance was embodied by fiscal rules whose spirit was never respected. Alistair Darling, the chancellor, seems set to scrap the rules entirely, while Mr Brown implied on Monday that ignoring them was an act of patriotism. Prudence, it seems, was a good-time girl. In grimmer days, Mr Brown finds her clingy embrace unendurable.

Galling as it is to see these rules long touted, then flouted and now dumped with pride, Mr Brown and Mr Darling are doing the right thing. The rules were always an unworkable attempt to codify sensible principles. Future rules should be both more flexible and more credible, with robust oversight from an independent body.