Economy

For two years we have been spending more to buy less, but in the last couple of months we have switched to buying less and spending less.

Denial is the widespread political response among those who are still warm enough and fed enough to participate.

Just like Foreman, the western states – and the US neocons in particular – have overestimated their economic and military strength...

Central bankers have been all too similar to ancient cultists doing ineffective rain dances, ever since they drew the wrong lesson from the early 1980s.

Most likely, state employees and establishment media editors are under pressure to put as positive spin as possible on economic news since the alternative might result in a full-blown panic.

This is terrible news for Rishi Sunak, as it guarantees that – barring fiddling the figures – his pledge going to fail.

The economic slowdown we have seen thus far, has nothing to do with interest rate rises. But is primarily the result of millions of households and thousands of businesses responding to higher energy costs.

There was always something of a cargo cult about it though. The religious belief was that by creating a fast transport link, wealth would magically flow north.

In large part, the plight of Britain’s councils is due to the 2010-15 Cameron government’s decision to make local authorities pick up the tab for bailing out the banks.

At worst, the UK might face an investor flight, with nobody outside the UK wanting to take on UK debt.