Spare a thought for poor old David (Danny) Blanchflower, arch dove at the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. "I feel a weight on my shoulders," he said when talking to Reuters, yesterday. Poor old Danny Boy, he reckons he has failed to convince the rest of his interest rate-setting chums how serious things are and is rather taking it all personally, as if somehow the economic crisis is all his fault. And while you are in the mood for being sympathetic, spare a thought for Britain’s retailers. They would rather forget the summer just gone, said the CBI yesterday. The employers' organization released its latest survey on the state of the High Street on Thursday, and boy, it was really awful. But then again, maybe it is the Office for National Statistics who should be getting our sympathy. It is receiving no end of flak. Recently the ONS reported another set of healthy figures for the High Street. "This can not be," said our retailers and those who apply common sense to their economic reckoning. The CBI report just gave these critics of the ONS even more ammunition. Come to think of it, maybe the ONS doesn’t deserve our sympathy after all. Don’t forget, its data has been used by the optimists to help them avoid the vision of reality. Mr Blanchflower is worried. "I feel that things I have been fearful about have come to pass and I have actually been pretty accurate in what's coming and I have failed to convince the others of what is appropriate.