After the Shareholder Spring, are we seeing a Savers' Summer? Across Europe, politicians and pension funds are in open revolt against the rock-bottom interest rates that are crippling them. But critics worry that the proposed solutions may be attempting to deny reality.

Last week, the Netherlands became the latest state in northern Europe partially to reject mark-to-market accounting, following Denmark and Sweden. Henk Kamp, the Dutch pensions minister, has proposed a new method of valuing funds' liabilities that is less tied to what is going on in the markets.