At the weekend former PM Gordon Brown claimed that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would leave Boris Johnson isolated ‘with no friends around the world’. This is a familiar theme. In 2019, for example, Brown warned that the UK was ‘sleepwalking into oblivion', and that a nation once admired for its tolerance and pragmatism now presented … Continue reading Would a ‘no deal’ Brexit really leave the UK friendless?
Category: UK economy
Access to cash is a far bigger problem than the ‘missing’ £50 billion
On 4th December, the UK parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on the production and distribution of cash. The press release was headlined ‘PAC urges Bank of England to investigate “missing” £50 billion of sterling notes’. This emphasis was unhelpful and drew attention away from the real problems. The media coverage did at … Continue reading Access to cash is a far bigger problem than the ‘missing’ £50 billion
Why fiscal responsibility still matters
I’m relatively relaxed about the fiscal costs of Covid: UK government borrowing will drop sharply as the economy recovers; the increase in the debt burden is manageable; and there’s no need to ‘pay for Covid’ with ‘austerity’ of any kind. (See my earlier blog explaining How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt.) … Continue reading Why fiscal responsibility still matters
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt
I’ve read some utter tosh on the state of the UK public finances in the last few days. Here is an attempt to correct some of the biggest misunderstandings. Most importantly, government debt does not have to be ‘repaid’, only serviced. As long as the government can meet the interest payments (I’ll come back to … Continue reading How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt
Plain-speaking Economics 