Tomorrow's Business Today
Gilty men and dangerous idiots, part II
Yesterday here we labelled Liz Truss a dangerous idiot. And later felt bad about it.
You have to use that tone of voice sparingly, lest you look like a man at Hyde Park Corner shouting at pigeons.
Today it is quite clear we understated the case.
And that much of the press has moved away from attempts to seriously analyse the snafu between the government and the Bank of England and have moved into comic abuse mode.
I didn’t think I had a favourite, until I read this in The Economist.
“Liz Truss is already a historical figure…Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th. She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd. Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce.”
The shelf-life of a lettuce. When The Economist is playing it for gags, you know something is up.
During the financial crisis, Robert Peston would say that the more time you saw him on TV, the more trouble we were all in.
Yesterday Ian King at Sky did his first bit to camera at before 8am and his last just after 6pm.
The genius back benchers at The Sun and The Daily Star are already sucking on the end of pencils while they seek inspiration for front page screamers.
They will be worth it when they come.
When Graham “The Turnip” Taylor finally went as manager of the England football team, The Sun splash header was “That’s Yer Allotment”.
Something like that please lads. Cheer us up.
Press release of the day
Latest UK gilts volumes and benchmarks here from MarketAxess.
Normally, we wouldn’t care about this stuff. At the moment we really do.
Be nice if the data and tables were more clearly explained for those of us looking at them for the first time.
Stories that will keep rolling
1) Has easyJet broken even? Are people trading down on holidays due to the cost of living squeeze?
2) Given fund withdrawals, is BlackRock backing away from its ESG commitment?
3) If US inflation is still rising despite the best efforts of the Fed, should we be kinder to the Bank of England?
4) Which specific pension funds have been hit hardest by the bond carnage?
