As a matter of interest? what prompted my original post was the principle employed by some UK Courts in the past in dealing with Negligence and such like was to refer to "the man on the Clapham omnibus" as the source of a commonsense attitude.
A friend went for a very senior job at central bank recently and he came away with view that they feel we are in deep trouble . Not saying they are right but rather they believe we are in more trouble than they are saying in public .
Why am I not surprised that people are happier to believe unattibuted 2nd hand pub gossip, over clear and direct open statements from Elderfield or Honohan?
On the original question, I think that Sid Vicious had it right about 'the man in the street'.
Keeping to the subject, the problem with the ordinary man on the street is that they can express opinions based on very little solid information and can be very convincing to other equally under informed men on the street.
It is possible, on the other hand, for the ordinary man on the street to obtain good information from exchequer statements, business pages, etc.
My own personal opinion is that anyone with a dogmatic view on the solution to our problems is probably wrong.