The Bank of England plunges us into inflation

The Establishment tells us the Bank of England is independent. They remind us that the Bank is charged by law to control the creation of money and the rate of interest in order to keep inflation at around 2%. Inflation is currently at 5.4% and is widely forecast to rise above 6% by April, more than 3 times the target. Inflation as  measured by the old RPI index is already at 7.5%.

It is curious that the defenders of the idea of an independent Bank do not criticise it for such a  failure, nor offer explanations of why this  has happened. Most are happy for the government to take the blame , forgetting they could not tell the Bank to print less money or to raise the interest rate.

I supported the massive creation of cash in 2020 and the ultra low rates. The anti covid measures were a huge hit to output and incomes so there did need to be a large offset. When the recovery gathered pace in 2021 I advised the ending of money printing or QE by the Bank. It was obvious inflation would take off if the Bank kept boosting the amount of money.

The government got away with the massive money printing when the economy  was in covid measures depression. They could allow the Bank to print and they could spend it routed to them as near zero interest loans which the state then bought up. These are not state debts we now have to pay off as the state owns the debt as well as owes it. Once the economy showed strong  recovery then printing, borrowing and spending returned to being inflationary as Latin America and Zimbabwe can tell you.

The Bank was right at the end of last year to at last end QE or money printing. The  Fed has carried on printing  and has presided over a worse inflation than we have. It should stop immediately. The Bank of England should now be careful not to overdo further tightening as they and the Treasury are now slowing the economy too much. It would be quite wrong for the Bank to tighten when the Treasury is about to increase taxes far too much.

239 Comments

  1. lifelogic
    January 23, 2022

    Indeed vast and damaging tax increases and allowance freezing have been made or are already in the system. David Bailey while at the FCA gives us ~ 40% one size fits all regardless of credit rating personal overdraft rates so foolish is the man. Effectively abolishing them for sensible people – mine was base + 2.5% now 40% so not used. This inflation of about 1,300 % – thanks very much Bailey & FCA.

    Robert Jenrick in the Telegraph today – “The market price for energy has quadrupled since before the pandemic, mainly because of an insatiable desire for gas in China. This upward pressure is compounded by Russia restricting the flow of gas for geopolitical ends – the bleak picture in Ukraine points to this continuing. The world may be structurally short of gas through the 2020s as China gobbles it up and Europe turns its back on coal. We should expect high energy prices to be with us for the foreseeable future.”

    So no mention of the main causes – Net Zero, the large green energy levies, fracking bans, failure to have sufficient gas, coal and oil storage, to much expensive intermittent renewables, coal bans and Carrie’s apparent conversion of Boris this absurd religion. Gas prices in the UK averaged about three times those in the US. Boris must abandon his government’s (or is it May & Carrie’s) mad flagship policy of net zero insanity and do it now.

    1. Donna
      January 23, 2022

      Jenrick’s article has, I suspect, been placed in the DT to start providing cover for the Jolly Green Giant when he starts to tiptoe away from the Eco Lunacy he has advocated for the past 2 years.

      We have another example today: the DT carrying an article that the Compulsion for all front-line NHS personnel might be delayed by 6 months ….. supposedly so they have time to get all 3 jabs, when they obviously aren’t intending to have the first 2.

    2. Atlas
      January 23, 2022

      Agreed about the Net Zero point. Not enough numerate, let alone those with a ‘hard’ science background, MPs to subject the whole topic to real scrutiny.

      1. lifelogic
        January 23, 2022

        We need a group of climate realist scientist to counteract the current insane climate alarmist group think. We needed this for the Covid alarmists too. They have done huge net harm in so many ways with their OTT reactions to Covid and absurd modelling. Net zero watch does a reasonable job of this but the government paying for one side only is like a trial where only the prosecution has any funding for lawyers and scientific experts. Plus these “experts” are clearly not independent as they know what side to be on should they want to act on the next job and also suffer from massive reinforcing group think.

    3. DavidJ
      January 23, 2022

      Indeed LL for both of your posts above.

  2. Gary Megson
    January 23, 2022

    Inflation is rising because of Brexit. Brexit barriers to trade at the ports and Brexit red tape and extra paperwork make imports more expensive, and those extra costs are passed on to British consumers. We lack workers in vital sectors because of Brexit, and that pushes up costs too. Every serious economist explained that cutting us off from our major trading partners would push up prices and damage our economy, but Brexiters squealed Project Fear. But it was Project Truth, and now it is Project Right Here. Brexit has weakened Britain

    Reply Inflation is higher in USA and Germany!

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      January 23, 2022

      Well there is an argument that because of Brexit, the Establishment doubled down on their anti-democratic position on that and how they dealt with Covid, which led us to this point. For most people that would be a signal to dump the Establishment, and not to back them as your respondent here suggests.

    2. Richard1
      January 23, 2022

      Those serious economists who were opposed to Brexit forecast a long and deep recession which hasn’t happened.

      Those serious economists who supported Brexit set out how it could make the U.K. more competitive and lead to lower prices due to deregulation and due to the ability to import at world market prices, not the artificial prices imposed by the EU. Of course the government hasn’t followed this advice. So the main criticism of Brexit isn’t that project fear was right – it was quite clearly nonsense. It’s what actually was the point of Brexit?

      1. a-tracy
        January 23, 2022

        And this Richard1 is why Sunak isn’t suitable as chancellor, just what has he done to improve matters, what or who is stopping him?

      2. Peter Wood
        January 23, 2022

        Sadly, project fear may prove correct, but NOT for the reasons they said but because we don’t have a government with the imagination or will to make it a success. Bunter is the wrong man.

        1. lifelogic
          January 23, 2022

          They certainly have done nothing regarding the bonfire of red tape needed plus they have lumped all the insanity of net zero, expensive energy and vast tax increases on top.

      3. Qubus
        January 23, 2022

        As someone who supported Brexit, I seem to remember prominent Brexiteers telling us that there would be little difference in our trade with Europe . We were told that since we had parity or rules with the EU before Brexit it would be a completely frictionless transition. How wrong they were. Did they never contemplate the vindictiveness of the EU?

        1. Richard1
          January 23, 2022

          Their hubris was summed up by David Davis’s comment “it will be the easiest deal ever”.

          It’s not fair to describe the EU as vindictive. A successful Brexit is an existential threat to the EU’s core philosophy under which all countries in europe should move to political and economic union. It was entirely foreseeable that there would be maximum disruption and dislocation to trade. Which is why Brexit only ever made sense if the U.K. govt focused relentlessly on making the U.K. the most competitive economy and the most attractive for investment, notwithstanding EU hostility. The Conservative govt to date has manifestly failed to do that. OK we’ve had covid, but time is running very short for those who promoted Brexit to show us it was all worthwhile.

        2. Harry F
          January 24, 2022

          It’s disgraceful that the the EU chose to treat Brexit as a reason for refusing to give Britain the perks of EU membership. I didn’t renew my gym membership for 2022, imagine my anger when they vindictively stopped me using the gym

          Reply The analogy is we resigned from the gym but the gym manager insist on us still going there and paying him fees

          1. Gary Megson
            January 24, 2022

            Brexit’s collapse is really rattling you, Mr Redwood. Is the gym manager (the EU) insisting we go there? Of course not. But our exporters want to go there, and the fee was well worth paying, as you can see now as massive border checks and red tape stand in the way of our access to the gym (the EU)

          2. Peter Parsons
            January 25, 2022

            If you resign from the gym, you are still bound by whatever terms you agreed to under the contract you signed as a member. That normally includes paying full membership fees during a defined period of notice.

            The EU have not been vindictive. Brexit, by its nature, is the only trade deal in history which has been about erecting barriers to trade which did not exist previously. And if folks don’t like the current obstacles to trade, imagine what a WTO Brexit would have looked like.

            Reply A WTO Brexit would have been fine. Our no n EU trade is bigger than our EU trade and is growing faster and is mainly on WTO terms.

    3. Mike Wilson
      January 23, 2022

      Brexit barriers to trade at the ports and Brexit red tape and extra paperwork make imports more expensive,

      IF that were true, it will discourage imports and encourage home produced food and goods. Which is precisely what we need. I don’t understand people like you. You live in a fool’s paradise where we can just endlessly import everything and never have to get our hands dirty growing food or producing goods in factories. Why are you such an elitist?

      1. Andy
        January 23, 2022

        The trouble is you are an elitist too. Brexitists said they would dig for England. They won’t. Farmers have tried recruiting Brexitists but Brexitists won’t do the work.

        1. John Hatfield
          January 23, 2022

          Andy, if ‘Brexitists’ are all pensioners as you claim, then clearly they are too old to pick potatos or pull carrots.

          1. Mickey Taking
            January 23, 2022

            When the reds take over, the likes of a fit young Andy will be in the fields trying to meet a nonsense 5 year Plan falling flat on its face. The billionaires’ favourites will be driving his EV, and us plebs too old to do manual labour will be counting how many carrots he pulled today – and calculating how many pence he should be given. Any of us with EV charging points will have them removed…welcome to the brave new world.
            His kids will be trained to watch out for any remarks about the ‘old days when he employed staff’ and report him.

      2. Gary Megson
        January 23, 2022

        We haven’t been self sufficient in food for 200 years. That’s partly because we can’t be (we can’t grow lemons or rice), but mainly because it makes no sense to try. It’s better to make what we are good at, use it and export the rest, while letting other countries make what they’re good at, and importing it. That is how and why trade works, and it is basic economics which an O Level student would understand. But unfortunately a Brexiter wouldn’t

        1. IanT
          January 23, 2022

          We were at one time the most efficient farmers in Europe – driven I beleive by the need to supply large amounts of food to the Royal Navy. We might not be able to grow all of own food but we should certainly try to grow more of it – and the Government should be encouraging this – not subsidising the re-wilding of usable farmland.

        2. Mickey Taking
          January 23, 2022

          for nearly all of that 200 years rice wasn’t a staple and still isn’t, indeed lemons were unheard of by the masses -the landed gentry got their estate gardeners to grow them in greenhouses.
          So, we were self-sufficient in the staples …. and sadly Ireland got starved by poor potato harvest plus blight 150 years ago.
          Several countries know that with energy use and greenhouses, food can be produced to beat the problems of climate. You’d rather we not bother – but pay others?

    4. Sea_Warrior
      January 23, 2022

      Before the referendum our major export market was ……………………… the rest of the (non-EU) world.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        That is hundreds of markets.

        The largest – by FAR – was the European Union Single Market.

        1. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          You are adding 27 together just as ” the rest of the world” adds together other nations
          And you assume European trade will stop.
          Which it isn’t

    5. Christine
      January 23, 2022

      We are now importing more from the rest of the world at much better prices. No longer do we have the German’s forcing higher coffee prices and the Italian’s higher rice prices etc.

      Inflation is everywhere. It is mainly due to Covid restrictions and the net zero religion.

      You may want to blame Brexit but you fail miserably to see the benefits. Just think how much the UK would have had to contribute to poorer EU countries Covid recovery funds had we still been a member. We would have also had to continue with the ridiculous Covid passports that have been enshrined into EU law.

      I like our new freedoms I just wish our Government would take more advantage of them.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        Emergency public health measures are nothing to do with any European Union institution.

        They are a sovereign matter for each of the member countries.

        Anything such as “green passes” is therefore national law for them and national law alone.

        1. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          Yes but…the EU pronounces and gives guidance and advice to their members
          Rebel against that at your risk.

      2. Peter Parsons
        January 25, 2022

        If we are importing at much better prices, why has the cost of everything I buy in the shops gone up at least 10%?

        1. Peter2
          January 25, 2022

          Increased money creation.

    6. Original Richard
      January 23, 2022

      Gary Megson :

      We have 6m EU residents and net immigration is still running into hundreds of thousands each year.

      We have a ÂŁ100bn/YEAR trading deficit with the EU which needs correction.

      And we are still run by EU corrupted Parliamentarians and civil servants and boards of corporates, quangos and institutions.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        No, “we” do not have six million European Union residents here, any more than Spain and Portugal have all the UK people with interests there living there at any one time plus their extended families.

        1. Mickey Taking
          January 23, 2022

          have you been moonlighting counting them?

        2. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          70 million people and its increasing every year.
          I reckon that’s enough people on this island to get things done.
          What is you favorite population level NHL?

    7. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      ‘Brexit has weakened Britain’
      Of course it has – but the brave voters accepted short-term discomfort to obtain the independance of principles and future policies. We can now address the issues the EU forced upon us, well at least a different Cabinet and PM could…

      1. Peter
        January 23, 2022

        Mickey Taking,

        Or maybe even a completely different government. Not one composed of MPs from LibLabCon though with a few notable exceptions….

        1. Mickey Taking
          January 23, 2022

          You’d have to mention the few notable exceptions, my mind’s a blank on that one.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        So what is the most serious issue that the European Union “forced” upon the UK, then?

        How would it transform your life for it to be removed?

      3. glen cullen
        January 23, 2022

        +1

    8. DavidJ
      January 23, 2022

      I guess you will be blaming Brexit for the weather next!

    9. John P
      January 24, 2022

      Red tape and paperwork cannot cause a sustained general increase in prices.

      Sorry, but you are economically illiterate.

  3. Mark B
    January 23, 2022

    Good morning.

    The anti covid measures were a huge hit to output and incomes so there did need to be a large offset.

    The BoE responded to a national and international event blown out of all proportion by the media, so called experts and politicians eager to gain more powers. For the BoE and other Central Banks it was not decision they wanted to make.

    The Fed has carried on printing . . .

    Well they are the Reserve Currency. At least for now ! If the world switches over to the Renminbi, americans in the US are really going to feel the pain.

    It would be quite wrong for the Bank to tighten when the Treasury is about to increase taxes far too much.

    A real Push-Me-Pull-You. But here is the thing. If you wanted to destroy the Middle Class, the best way to do it is to destroy their wealth. And that is to grind them down between the two millstones of inflation and high taxes. The rich can move their wealth into assets and offshore as we have seen from the Panama Papers. The poor are subsidised through benefits and have their wages protected, if they are working, through the minimum wage, plus a large part of their wage is tax free. For the Middle Class there are no such protections. The value of their money is destroyed as it is in savings. Their salary is undercut by inflation (high fuel, Council Tax etc) and, to add to that, they are having to take on an increasing tax burden.

    Result – Poverty for all but the very, very rich !

    A nice bit of Leveling Up !

    1. Donna
      January 23, 2022

      It’s a funny kind of levelling up when the intention is that all but the Global Elite “will own nothing and be happy.”

      1. Peter
        January 23, 2022

        Donna,

        Orwell’s ‘newspeak’ and ‘doublethink’ perhaps?

      2. DavidJ
        January 23, 2022

        +1

    2. BOF
      January 23, 2022

      Mark B. +1. Very good post.

    3. Christine
      January 23, 2022

      All part of the great reset. Destroy the middle classes. And if they don’t get your money whilst you are alive then take it once you are dead. The inheritance tax rules have failed to keep up with inflation. For many even owning a house throws them into paying 40% inheritance tax. It’s absurd you can’t even spend more that ÂŁ250 on a gift using your own well earned money. Of course none of this applies to the rich with their trust funds and off shore accounts. The sooner all the main political parties are gone the better.

      1. Qubus
        January 23, 2022

        How very right you are. It’s my money, but I can’t do what I want with it.

      2. hefner
        January 23, 2022

        You can give ÂŁ3,000 to one person or a total of ÂŁ3,000 to several persons every year. You can carry any annual exemption unused during year N forward to the new year N+1.
        You can give ÂŁ5,000 to a child that gets married or into a civil partnership, ÂŁ2,500 to a grandchild, ÂŁ1,000 to another person for a wedding/c.p.
        You can give much more than that (if you can afford it obviously) in which case the 7-year rule will apply, i.e. tax will be due during these seven years, the tax due is at a rate of 40% during the first three years, then at 32% in the fourth year, 24, 16 and 8%.

        So it is not the ÂŁ250 you are quoting.

        1. hefner
          January 23, 2022

          gov.uk ‘How inheritance tax works: thresholds, rules and allowances’.

        2. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          All the figures you list are ones where tax has already been paid once already.

          1. hefner
            January 24, 2022

            Indeed, but those are not ‘my’ figures but those from HMRC that can be used by anybody. And the point is that they are much bigger than Christine’s £250 figure.

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      January 23, 2022

      Good post Mark B with a lot of truth in what you say.

  4. J Bush
    January 23, 2022

    Whilst on paper the Bank of England may look as though it is independent, it begs the question how independent, when you take into account the following:

    Carney was appointed by Osborne and who can forget Carneys’ interference in British politics (which interestingly mirrored much of Osbornes opinion) and who can forget his wife (until I think she was told to shut it) telling the Brits how they should conduct their lives.

    The current one, Andrew Bailey, was appointed by Javid who stated “When we launched this process, we said we were looking for a leader of international standing with expertise across monetary, economic and regulatory matters. In Andrew Bailey that is who we have appointed. Andrew was the stand-out candidate in a competitive field. He is the right person to lead the Bank as we forge a new future outside the EU and level-up opportunity across the country.”

    So just how independent is the Bank of England when the CEO appointment is made by politicians of this appalling calibre?

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 23, 2022

      To be fair, to a considerable extent this is a global problem caused by money-printing.

      This has caused an asset bubble, and in this country owing to local matters, particularly a residential property one.

      People have to pay rent and meet loans somehow, so pressure for higher wages naturally follows.

      The labour shortage in key areas caused by brexit has made that pressure irresistible, and now there is nothing to break the cycle.

      Lax credit requirements, especially for mortgage-backed loans are a curse.

      1. Mickey Taking
        January 23, 2022

        If we had not accepted the wrong attitude of encouraging immigration these last many years and controlled what benefits are paid to the able-bodied shi(wo)rkers, then our own people would be doing the jobs that europeans and eastern europeans have flocked here to do.
        This has been the cause of rapidly increasing population, pressure on housing, schools, education, transport etc. Now we have the breakneck planning and housebuilding concreting over what was green fields England. That has caused the financial concerns over loan/mortgage chasing millions and triggered inflationary pressure coupled with a mad energy policy (or rather what energy policy).

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 23, 2022

          If you looked at detailed, complex reality, rather than at the infantile cartoon version peddled by the right wing press for Tory voters, then you would grasp that your analysis is plain wrong.

          1. Peter2
            January 23, 2022

            Oh do tell us NHL
            Give us all the facts data and statistics you have to pronounce so definitely these views of yours.

          2. Mickey Taking
            January 23, 2022

            Thank you for such an explicit reasoning as to why I am wrong, do treat us to a clear discussion on what has gone wrong and how you would ensure correction.

    2. J Bush
      January 23, 2022

      However, a search into Andrew Bailey background shows he has a History degree, spent some time as a research officer at LSE, before moving into banking. His track record in this field is, at best, nondescript. And Javid thought he was the best candidate! Or was Javid just really looking for someone who was mediocre and malleable?

      1. Lifelogic
        January 23, 2022

        Look at his personal 40% overdraft policy the man is a menace. Note offshore divisions of Lloyd’s HSBC …do not charge 40%, these rates just reserved for UK borrowers thanks to Bailey and the FCA.

        1. DavidJ
          January 23, 2022

          +1

    3. Mark B
      January 23, 2022

      Indeed. When your job relies on your boss, and in this case the Chancellor of the Exchequer, an political appointee who has to keep one eye on the opinion polls, then it is hardly independent as political pressures will always filter through and on to decision making. If the appointment was done say, by Her Majesty and no politician had a say, then one may believe the position to be politically neutral and free to act.

    4. hefner
      January 23, 2022

      Would you have wanted Carney and Bailey to be chosen by Labour? Or by referendum? Who should have chosen the BoE’s Governor? Does the country need such a Governor? If not, should the responsibility for monetary questions left with the Chancellor? G.Osborne? P.Hammond? S.Javid? R.Sunak?
      Were G.Howe, N.Lawson, J.Major, N.Lamont, K.Clarke so brilliant at dealing with monetary questions? And after the BoE’s ‘independence’ what about G.Brown, A.Darling?

      And J B, why were you not candidate to become Governor of the BoE, as I understand you must have a ‘descript track record’ and are not ‘of this appalling calibre’?

      1. Peter2
        January 24, 2022

        What is the point of post that just poses a dozen questions hef?
        Why not post some of your positive views?
        You do do have some I presume?
        Of gosh I seem to have caught your affliction.

        1. hefner
          January 29, 2022

          Maybe the first step on the road to considering the world not as white or black. Who knows?

  5. Everhopeful
    January 23, 2022

    What did the B of E think would happen?
    Printing money has to lead to inflation, surely?
    Printing was done in response to poor predictions by a govt that is now paying the price.
    The B of E doesn’t seem much better at predictions really does it?
    And to an extent its hands are tied re interest rates.
    But, hey! Look what the establishment has already done to us. What would a few repossessions matter?

    1. George Brooks.
      January 23, 2022

      The treasury has a strong track record of wrong predictions and advises the government especially a newly elected one

      1. Everhopeful
        January 23, 2022

        +1
        They all need to invest in fresh goat entrails methinks!

        1. Mickey Taking
          January 23, 2022

          a salivating thought… raw or grilled?

          1. Everhopeful
            January 23, 2022

            Lol
            Raw definitely
.all the better to predict the future.

  6. Everhopeful
    January 23, 2022

    Let’s drop viruses and make inflation our focus.
    Apparently in 1974 President Gerald Ford declared it Public Enemy Number One.
    Which seems more sensible than focussing on a virus!
    (And then printing money.
    And then ramping up inflation.
    And then discovering there was no need to do any of it at all.
    And then wondering why you are suddenly living in Venezuela).

  7. Everhopeful
    January 23, 2022

    Inflation feels more like 10% than 5%.
    Can the establishment have got their figures wrong?
    Again?

    1. Mark B
      January 23, 2022

      Because in all probability, it is !

      The way in which it is calculated does not take into account the rises in Council Tax, water, gas and electricity charges. Travel costs, insurance (house and car) and any other costs we cannot escape.

    2. a-tracy
      January 23, 2022

      Everhopeful, have your monthly outgoings really gone up 10%, is it mainly fuel cost rises? I went through my gas and electric usage in detail, I reduced the temperature in a couple of rooms that I don’t use as much and only turn them up when I’m in the room and I turned off radiators in unused space. I identified two older heaters that were using too much electricity and turned them down and will replace them for more energy efficient ones, this seriously cut down our bills, a smart water meter cut our water bill. Our supermarkets are dropping prices and item prices have lowered in our area and we have a new rather large supermarket that is killing off the few remaining small businesses and market, soon the shopping centre will only have charity shops. Restricted choice will then push up prices again once they have taken the market share they desire. The Council bends over backwards for them allowing them to put up four lighted signs from the main road, not two, four to dominate the town landscape. I hope their business rates will make up for all the shops they finally put the final nail in the coffin of. Clothes prices have dropped and I’m so sad that my favourite department stores are now only online but this has helped to reduce costs. Vehicle fuel is a headache up 25%.

      1. Everhopeful
        January 23, 2022

        +1

    3. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      talk to families with little better than average income, a smallish mortgage, children, trying to run an essential old car, giving up on holidays, and staring at depressing prospects….
      Which of them can afford to vote Conservative?

    4. hefner
      January 23, 2022

      ChronicleLive.co.uk, 20/01/2022, ‘How much your shopping has risen 
’ with details how the prices of various staple products (meat &fish, household basics, fruit & vegs) have gone up between 12/20 and 12/21.

      1. a-tracy
        January 24, 2022

        Thanks for the link hefner, I took a look, the ONS don’t say what brands they’re looking at but their prices show they didn’t shop around. They have 500g of spreadable butter @ ÂŁ3.47, you can get a UK brand from a top 5 supermarket for ÂŁ1.85. They had a 500g low fat spread/margarine for ÂŁ1.77 – you can get a UK brand for just 0.75p. and tea bags 250g they say = ÂŁ2.05 you can get PG bags for 50p per 100g. People really do need to shop around and this is why the discount supermarkets near us are taking over the British supermarkets by using British products too!

  8. Stephen Reay
    January 23, 2022

    There has never been any clear evidence that QE has worked. What we do know is the rich got richer, the CEO’s got bigger pay and bonus .
    Savers have been robbed and ordinary people will have paid the cost with low wages and high inflation. QE is the fault of this government and no one else. Please show us the evidence that QE has worked.

    1. BOF
      January 23, 2022

      +1 S R. A very good question, does QE work?

      1. Everhopeful
        January 23, 2022

        +1
        Yes, indeed, a very good question!
        Counterfeiting didn’t
it usually got the perpetrator hanged.

        1. BOF
          January 23, 2022

          Eh. That sounds appropriate……..

          1. Everhopeful
            January 23, 2022

            +1
            Very!

          2. DavidJ
            January 23, 2022

            +1

  9. turboterrier
    January 23, 2022

    Life I was told was all about a question of economics. It all hinged on getting that right and living within your needs.
    How is it the people charged with controlling this process seem to have completely lost the understanding of basic economics?
    All the time to compound the problem, government talks a lot about controlling and stamping out waste but it continues on regardless.
    Less waste must surely equate to less borrowing? Government should be rapidly be revisting some if not all of its grandiose ideas.

    1. Andy
      January 23, 2022

      Because of elected Brexitists. You literally elected economic illiterates. You put them in charge of the country and the economy – and they screwed up both.

    2. a-tracy
      January 23, 2022

      Turbo terrier, the conservatives tell us they are the best economical managers, it would be interesting to check how much their government spends compared to say Blairs ‘in real terms’. Do they personally do what it says on the tin.

    3. James1
      January 23, 2022

      There is a fundamental ignorance of basic economic principles within government and public sector circles. We really ought to try capitalism again.

    4. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      ‘ living within your needs.’ is becoming impossible to afford.
      Essentials are being cut out, heating, eating, recreation and holidays now off the affordables.

  10. Oldtimer
    January 23, 2022

    There is now the likelihood of a triple whammy of rising interest rates, increasing taxes and higher input costs as supply chain disruptions continue into the foreseeable future. The latter is baked in as Omicron takes hold in Asia, and China locks down cities and its ports cease to function normally. The government can influence the first whammy, controls the second but can do next to nothing about the third. But the government remains consumed by party gate and its consequences. So these issues, if considered at all, are at best on the back burner.

    1. Longinus
      January 23, 2022

      Why would Asian countries enter lockdown because of Omicron? There is ample evidence that it usually causes a mild upper respiratory tract infection.

  11. Stephen Reay
    January 23, 2022

    It will be higher inflation that causes the slow down not so much as increased interest rates. Borrows are the minority. Inflation effects everyone while interest rates only effects borrower’s.
    Those with mortgages will have been stress tested or have fixed rate mortgages. The government could provide cheap loans to businesses if need be.

    1. Everhopeful
      January 23, 2022

      +1
      Not sure about this but is it that mortgage borrowers aren’t stress tested any more?
      Something to do with 5% deposits.
      And the loans now are HUGE. No longer 3 x salary.

  12. Ian Wragg
    January 23, 2022

    The Bank of England is run by the WEF and remainer gang.
    It is their idea to stoke inflation to make the government look bad.
    We savers are the ones being punished for the ba k and government largesse.

  13. BOF
    January 23, 2022

    Why is it that Joe Soap, the man in the street, i.e. me, understood what would happen if the Government locked the country down in 2020. To my friends and family I explained the damage it would do to the economy, health, education etc. and afterwards, would come inflation. They looked at me blankly.

    Well the Government and Bank of England were wrong and still are. They seem intent on money creation instead of wealth creation, which is entirely in line with their socialist/Marxist doctrines. Far easier to print money to give to people in their socialist state than to give the people the freedom, liberty and incentives to create wealth for the benefit of the country.

    1. JoolsB
      January 23, 2022

      +1. This so called ‘Conservative’ Government haven’t got a clue about wealth creation. Socialist to the core, they believe in tax and redistribution.

      1. graham1946
        January 23, 2022

        They are certainly a tax and spend government, but not a redistribution one. If they are, then it is being redistributed to the wrong places. Food banks in the 6th largest economy are a disgrace. With costs going through the roof, they take away the extra ÂŁ20 per week from the poorest, given out during the pandemic, renege on the pensions triple lock to cut pensions even further when they are already the lowest in the developed world and in effect force wages down. Seems like a Conservative government to me, but not one that I used to support

      2. Lifelogic
        January 23, 2022

        Redistribution to vested well connected interests often. HS2, net zero, test and trace… or just pissed down the drain.

    2. DOM
      January 23, 2022

      Spot on. Thatcher’s vision has been crushed by both main parties who are now wedded to a sinister agenda and a future in which the State knows no limits to its powers over all areas of our lives

      The kickback will come when the State tries to take personal assets from the people in the name of the deceitful ‘greater good’, as Socialists call it. I prefer the term fascism

    3. Mark B
      January 23, 2022

      The people around where I lived partied and banged their little pots and pans, cheered the NHS on their doorsteps without a thought to how all this borrowed / created money was going to be paid back. Being paid by the government to sit at home and do nothing.

      Fools, the lot of them !

      1. alan jutson
        January 23, 2022

        Mark

        Now we hear that the Civil Service and many other taxpayer funded staff do not want to go back to the office at all, but to work from home permanently, still want to get paid the London Allowance though.

        The whole system is becoming a complete, inefficient, and very expensive farce, with the tail now seemingly wagging the dog !

  14. Nig l
    January 23, 2022

    I believe it was your choice to select the current Governor, whose performances in his previous job were ‘allegedly’ less than satisfactory and equally I don’t believe that the Treasury has zero influence. It chose and still does, to throw billions plus into an over heating economy much wasted.

    You have also allowed gas and electricity prices to rip, putting over 40 providers out of business with the energy cap, and with no idea about how to mitigate them.

    Part of the everyone elses but Boris’s fault campaign.

    1. Lifelogic
      January 23, 2022

      GOV. CAUSED NOT :”ALLOWED” ENERGY COSTS TO RISE.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        Energy costs have risen sharply in most European countries, although the UK has been particularly exposed to having to pay spot prices owing to very limited storage for gas.

        1. Mickey Taking
          January 23, 2022

          and the lack of an ability to take up slack with other means of generation?

  15. Cortona
    January 23, 2022

    Given the BoE’s role is to manage financial stability and inflation which allegedly compelled such a strong intervention in the referendum could it be argued they should also have intervened in the energy debate? The energy crisis here has been especially acute with gas prices quadrupling and there has been no shortage of foresight in this forum that choosing not to exploit domestic sources achieves nothing except higher emissions and inflation.

    1. peter
      January 23, 2022

      They are charged with the inflation rate and nothing else! Financial stability etc etc are the BOE yet again overreaching itself. Pretentios to the extreme and a useful way of deflecting from their only official aim!

  16. Sir Joe Soap
    January 23, 2022

    Well you only needed the boost in 2020 because of the over-reaction to Covid. Those crucial days when the government bizarrely went from allowing the Cheltenham Gold Cup to proceed to locking us in our homes showed the true nature of this government. Do-nothing followed by emotion-based over reaction.

    A more considered reaction of organising the NHS and Care homes around the virus situation, providing data to allow folk to decide whether to shelter or not and the provision of loans to those who chose to, to cover living costs, would have left us in a better place. We wouldn’t have needed this money boost at all.

    1. Mark B
      January 23, 2022

      I remember at the time I was begging for reasoned and calm heads to prevail. They clearly lost the plot and only recent revelations has made them become more grounded as the whole things has shown to a total sham.

  17. Sakara Gold
    January 23, 2022

    History tells us that the printing of fiat currency inevitably results in hyperinflation. Governments love printing money because it lets them spend on electoral bribes and if they lose, the resulting inflation can always be blamed on the incoming opposition. Ultimately, the printing of fiat causes hyperinflation which destroys savings, such as the current entrenched 1500% per annum hyperinflation in Venezuela. Remember the ÂŁ1billion Zimbabwe dollar note a few years back?

    The total of global debt was at $281 trillion at end of 2020 – which represented 355% of global GDP, according to the recent Institute of International Finance report. This sum is far too big and will never be paid back.

    Historically people have bought gold bullion as a store of value to preserve their wealth.
    Russia, China, Iran and Israel are the big buyers of gold mine output so far this year. Traditionally, the Asian public buys gold as a store of wealth

    When the inevitable debt related hyper-inflatory financial collapse happens, those who hold hard assets will preserve their wealth. The rest will be selling “The Big Issue”

    1. IanT
      January 23, 2022

      Gold may have it’s place in some people’s portfolio Sakara but I’ve always doubted it’s practical investment value – apart perhaps from having some coins stitched into my coat for when the World ends. Personally, I’ve not done that so far (and thus far the world hasn’t ended either) nor am I sure where I would actully flee to these days (Mars with Elon?) if there was a world ending event.

      I would suggest most folk would be much better off dollar-averaging their money into index funds than buying gold. For any worthwhile gold holding you also have to pay to insure & store it (hope you don’t bury yours in the garden?). With gold you are just relying on potential capital increases to protect your wealth but of course the price goes down as well as up (or justs stays still). As gold generates no income and (as already mentioned costs money to own) it’s not exactly an attractive investment for anyone needing to feed themselves. So unless you have a lot of spare money to gamble, gold (like Bitcoin) is an area best avoided by most folk. Of course (quoting the TV ad) you don’t pay VAT on gold purchases! Well, that seals the deal of course! 🙂

      Reply This site does not offer investment advice. this is just an opinion.

      1. Iago
        January 23, 2022

        Capital Gains Tax on bullion I believe. The politicians’ and civil servants’ index-linked pensions and tax-free lump sums have to be paid for.

  18. Andy
    January 23, 2022

    Brexitists promised us Brexit would lead to lower prices.

    Instead we get massive Brexit price hikes.

    This is entirely on Brexit voters many of whom will now be going cold and hungry. Sadly – entirely innocent remain voters will be affected too by the Brexitists idiotic vote.

    1. Sharon
      January 23, 2022

      “ Brexitists promised us Brexit would lead to lower prices.”

      So did Ted Heath when we entered the EU (common market)!

      1. hefner
        January 23, 2022

        So, are such promises a characteristic of the British politician, I wonder.

    2. Sea_Warrior
      January 23, 2022

      Yawn!!!

      1. Mickey Taking
        January 23, 2022

        That broken record still gets played.

    3. a-tracy
      January 23, 2022

      Andy, how has Brexit affected only the UK’s energy/fuel prices? You should shop around – “10 Feb 2021 — The supermarket price-war has edged up a notch after Sainsbury’s followed Tesco’s Source, Aldi price-match scheme BBC” “28 Apr 2021 — Food prices have fallen for the first time in more than four years as supermarkets continued to slug it out in a bid to win shoppers.” The Grocer “2 Jan 2022 — The supermarket price wars of the last decade helped push spending on food and drink down to just 11 per cent of a typical household budget” the Times.

    4. Peter2
      January 23, 2022

      So inflation in Europe and USA is also caused by Brexit is it young Andy?
      Hilarious nonsense from you.

    5. Christine
      January 23, 2022

      Strange then that I see the same price rises here in Spain who haven’t left the EU.

      In fact they have it even worse than the UK with high unemployment and a massive increase in electricity prices.

      You just want to blame everything on Brexit when you have no evidence whatsoever.

      Try getting off your Brexit hobby horse and mount the net zero one instead. Or doesn’t that pay as well?

      1. Andy
        January 23, 2022

        Another Brexitist in Spain – exercising their right to free movement which they removed from everybody else.

        1. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          You need to look up how you get to stay and live in Spain young Andy.
          It isnt very difficult .

    6. Original Richard
      January 23, 2022

      Andy :

      Unfortunately the country is not being run by Brexitists but by the EU corrupted Remainers in Parliament, the civil service and the boards of corporates, quangos and institutions.

      I am expecting the EU’s corrupting influence to be supplanted by China in the future.

    7. No Longer Anonymous
      January 23, 2022

      Luckily we’ve had over two years of Covid restrictions so we’ll never know, Andy.

      I personally think borrowing to cover unnecessary lockdown has easily done the most damage and this is proven by the fact that the world is facing inflation issues – even those countries that were never in the EU.

      Which, by the way, now extends to Ukraine … I don’t recall Poland being in the Common Market at the time of the first referendum, do you ?

      At what stage do you think that the people should have been consulted ?

    8. graham1946
      January 23, 2022

      So you think inflation is not happening in the EU? Take of the blindfold little Andy.

    9. Hat man
      January 23, 2022

      Brexit, Brexit, Brexit… I’ve heard broken records that were more interesting than this one.

      The US and many other countries that did not leave the EU are facing massive inflationary rises, caused by their reckless money-creation to pay for the lockdowns they inflicted. That’s what the grown-ups in the room are talking about while you try to play your Brexit back number, Andy.

      1. Andy
        January 23, 2022

        Annoying isn’t it? Remember Brexitists spent 40 years blaming the Europe for everything. It is immensely tiresome.

        We are just a year into Brexit so I reckon we have 39 years left blaming Brexit for everything until we’re evens.

        Remember Brexit doesn’t actually have to be to blame for something. People just have to be told it is to blame. That is the job now. It’s kinda fun.

        1. graham1946
          January 23, 2022

          The difference is that the EU was to blame for a lot of our ills, Brexit isn’t. Thanks for confirming you don’t have a clue and are making it all up. Bless.

        2. No Longer Anonymous
          January 23, 2022

          Andy.

          When were we – The People – going to be consulted about EU expansionism ?

          The Common Market we actually voted to join only had six countries in it of similar economic standing.

          It changed beyond all recognition and a vote was long over due. And what would be the point in a vote that could not produce an outcome that might displease you ?

    10. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      Interesting that the comfortably off remainers are complaining about financial damage, the living on basics masses who chose leave have no choice except to survive.

    11. jerry
      January 23, 2022

      @Andy; Your usual anti Brexit nonsense on stilts again. Go check the current quoted cost for shipping ISO containers, there is also high demand but low capacity in many manufacturing sectors, if this was all due to Brexit and not the pandemic how come the USA is also seeing hikes in inflation, Australia too?

    12. IanT
      January 23, 2022

      This might be plausible argument against Brexit if the UK was alone in experiencing price inflation – but clearly it’s not. But don’t let fact get in the way of your obsessions.

    13. Augustus Princip
      January 23, 2022

      Sigh, bigoted remainer doesn’t understand global impact of a mismanaged viral pandemic.

    14. Rhoddas
      January 23, 2022

      Err Andy the anti-Brexit troll – EU/USA inflation is similar or higher than ours, so are you blaming Brexit on the world’s ills, how very facile!

  19. alan jutson
    January 23, 2022

    We all know the Bank of England is not really independent.
    When the Government decides to Print Money, we all suffer the knock on costs, be it inflation, higher taxes, or a host of other connected consequences.
    Now with everything rising in cost, at a much higher rate than the basket of goods and services the Government has set for its calculations, many will find themselves cheated when it comes to income protection, wages, pensions and the like.
    Just wait for the bank rate to increase significantly and mortgage rates rise to their historic norm’s, then you will start to see some very real problems.

  20. alan jutson
    January 23, 2022

    We have lost the triple lock, now wait for the triple whammy !

    1. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      let the blood letting begin..

  21. George Brooks.
    January 23, 2022

    From party-gate to inflation aided and abetted by the media is a Westminster bubble remainer campaign to reverse Brexit. The release of ‘events’ to the media has been stage managed and timed to inflict the most damage.

    Why was nothing said in May 2020 about 20th? No rules were broken as everyone in the garden had been working together INSIDE. There is nothing wrong after a very long hard day to relax with a glass of something and it happens in many offices up and down the country.

    The remainers were surprised by the traction this accusation got, so they went digging for anything that looked remotely like a ‘party’ and with the media struggling for readership and viewers they grabbed the chance to boost the figures

    Boris must stay or we will never get the benefit from Brexit which will take and keep this country at the top of the world ranking

    1. X-Tory
      January 23, 2022

      Sorry George but you must be wilfully blind to the facts. I agree that the parties in themselves are small beer, and as someone who ignored the rules I do not criticise others who did the same. But Boris MADE the rules! So HE is the one person who does NOT have the right to regard them with contempt (as most of us do) and ignore them. That is the difference.

      As for Brexit, I *support* this – which is why I want Boris OUT. Boris has NO intention of delivering a true Brexit, with Northern Ireland free from Brussels’ (and Dublin’s) control, with Britain’s fishing industry booming, and with a bonfire of EU rules and regulations. Boris is a Brexit traitor. If it were otherwise he would have delivered by now, two years into his premiership. I am very sad about this but it is no use burying our heads in the sand. We must face the facts and rid ourselves of the man who has betrayed Brexit, Britain and the British people.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        January 23, 2022

        Come on, pick your big three “rules and regulations” from the European Union which, you believe, will transform your life when removed, and explain how?

        Come on – love to hear them.

        1. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          There are thousands over the decades.
          But just 4 for you
          VAT
          COSHH
          GDPR
          REACH

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 24, 2022

            So your life is ruined by these trivia, is it?

          2. Peter2
            January 24, 2022

            You asked for examples.
            I gave you just a few as requested by you.
            If you had ever run your own business you would soon realise how EU rules regulations directives and laws such as these, impact irritate and suffocate you and your ability to run a successful business.
            But you haven’t and so you have no idea at all NHL

          3. hefner
            January 24, 2022

            How many of those have recently been cancelled since 01/01/2021, since ‘Liberation Day’?

            And are you really opposed to the Control of Substances Hazardous of Health or the Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals?
            Are you really looking forward to having your own little Beirut explosion?
            You are becoming more interesting by the day 
 a bit of a Edward Peter Strangelove, are you not?

          4. Mickey Taking
            January 24, 2022

            life isn’t ruined but it all adds up making it worth getting rid of…my inability to travel ‘freely’ in EU doesn’t ruin my life – but it seems to have ruined yours and Andy’s !!
            Weird.

          5. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            I thought you might join in hef after a quick Google search.
            Your post shows you understand nothing of what these quangos do.
            PS
            The UK had a powerful Health and Safety Act and Environmental Protection Act well before these EU additional laws.

  22. Bryan Harris
    January 23, 2022

    While we hear that the BoE is supposed to be independent, don’t we also hear how ministers still have effective control and work hand in glove with the bank…. Ultimately the economy is the responsibility of number 11 and 10.

    Inflation is far too high, our national debt is far higher than it should be and that is partly because of events, but mainly down to policies and actions invoked by the Chancellor.
    The waste of taxpayers money over the last 2 years has been a catalogue of horrors.

    If the Chancellor doesn’t reverse his high tax policies it will all get a lot worse – He should get away from the idea that he can punish us for his mistakes, and concentrate on making the economy boom, with more freedoms to prosper.
    As for the BoE, they will do as they are told.

    1. hefner
      January 28, 2022

      P2, I am now expecting you, for once, to explain what the previous Act was doing that the ‘quangos’ do not. I would love to benefit from your long experience as a businessman.

  23. DOM
    January 23, 2022

    We are fortunate that we have a vibrant private sector that provides the necessary supply of goods that prevents ‘too much money chasing too few goods’. This constant supply mitigates the free-cash splurge we have seen from the idiots now in government aided and abetted by bureaucrats who understand how to buy peoples silence by using cash payments

    We must slash State spending before the State consumes us all

  24. Everhopeful
    January 23, 2022

    Exactly how are those who depend ( ed) on income from savings meant to get by?
    Get a buy-to-let and be screwed over by the govt.?
    Start a small business
fall off chair laughing?
    This is the financial route we have been forced down by govts. Work and save.
    Who wouldn’t prefer gold under the mattress?

  25. Kenneth
    January 23, 2022

    I don’t know where the dividing line between socialism and incompetence lies, but the BoE and Treasury seem to have got just about everything wrong.

    The fact that a “conservative” government was in office at the time is abhorrent.

    1. Mickey Taking
      January 23, 2022

      It has certainly got a lot of people scratching heads and looking for some divine intervention on the madness in front of us almost daily.

  26. Ex-Tory
    January 23, 2022

    Anyone in a normal business who missed their target as badly as the Bank of England MPC would be sacked.

  27. Newmania
    January 23, 2022

    Macavity Redwood strikes again. Barely a day has passed since 2916 ,without Big suspender telling us QE was free money, and we needed to run hotter ( to delay the consequences of Brexit.)
    By June 2020n £795bn of the £895bn was already swilling around in the real economy. Some of we doomsters and gloomsters wondered if the hole on the roof strategy was sensible in the medium term 
but oh no they knew best.
    Well the rain has come, and it turns out that just prior to the first crack of thunder Sir John muttered “ 
 might want to fix the roof now
 ”
    I can hear Attenborough`s awed whisper ..”But the cornered the Redwood has one more trick up his sleeve
.there it is

. a dense cloud of rhetoric
.. and with a flick of his tail 
.he is gone

”

    Reply Timing and judgement matter. 2020 QE was fine. Carrying on with it after recovery 2021 was bound to cause more inflation.

  28. Original Richard
    January 23, 2022

    Whilst it is true that excessive QE will cause problems this will pale into insignificance compared to the economy destroying Net Zero Strategy and the social cohesion/nationhood destroying high levels of immigration.

  29. No Longer Anonymous
    January 23, 2022

    Now we are getting to know the true rate of death only by Covid will we be getting the figures for deaths by lockdown measures ?

    Was lockdown worth it ?

    And why are people wearing masks ? Shouldn’t we now be telling those who think they need them to wear the type that protects themselves ?

    “Wear a mask to protect others” is now out of date. It is unhealthy. Masks are a left wing fetish item… used to oppress and instil fear. Certain religions use them. Perverts use them and so do political regimes – to dehumanise and to control.

    1. jerry
      January 23, 2022

      @NLA; ““Wear a mask to protect others” is now out of date. It is unhealthy”

      Best tell that to the Royal collage of surgeons and the Royal College of Nursing then, you seem to know more than they do!

      But I do agree, unlike single use medical style masks, those multi-use fashion masks are often both unhealthy and do not protect either the person wearing it or others.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        January 23, 2022

        Jerry.

        The vast majority of us are not at risk of Omicron – especially if we have been triple vaxxed.

        So by what possible logic can you tell me that “wear a mask to protect yourself.” and let the rest go free is not the way forward ?

        Do you think masks are kinky ?

        Do you get some kind of sexual fulfilment out of forcing people who do not need to wear them to put them on ?

        1. jerry
          January 23, 2022

          @NLA; “The vast majority of us are not at risk of Omicron – especially if we have been triple vaxxed. “

          Not so, 10% of those people could actually have little or no protection. 10% is a considerable proportion of the UK population, given that the concern is hospital admissions, the loss of economic activity or education, not deaths. You also assume Omicron is going to carry on being the dominant variant, I suggest that unlikely, for whilst CV19 is not Flu it does seem to have the same ability to constantly mutate, hence why the Flu vaccine has to be adapted each year.

          “So by what possible logic can you tell me that “wear a mask to protect yourself.” and let the rest go free is not the way forward ?”

          That might be an acceptable proposition if a/. 10% of those vaccinated could well have little or no protection; b/. there wasn’t asymptomatic cases, especially among the vaccinated; c/. any viral load had to be transmitted directly from person-2-person, rather than say via surface contamination, the reason hand sanitizing..

          As for your other comments, not at all, but like for like, and it is only fair to ask, do you have an issue with your personal vanity that makes you need to show off your lower face, have you perhaps had a expensive facelift or something, if so I can understand why you might be miffed at having to wear a mask! 😛

          1. Peter2
            January 24, 2022

            If you look at the data 10% isn’t correct Jerry

          2. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @Peter2; You are wrong again, what a surprise, although the published data tell us the vaccine+booster is 90% effective again the Omicron variant – do the arithmetic!

          3. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            You speak only of the Onmicron variant in your 100-90= 10 figure.
            And fail to take into account the drop off in protection after each of the three vaccine jabs that occurs.

          4. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @Peter2; I believe it was the CDC in the US who originally quoted/published the 90% effectiveness research figure, and it was for both the Onmicron and Delta variants. This is for those who have had their original (two-stage) vaccine dose plus booster, but not everyone in the UK has [1], those who don’t have less immunity, some a lot less, not much more than 50% after 6 months.

            You make a good point though, in a roundabout way, the NEXT variant might turn out to be vaccine resistant, just as seasonal Flu is often resistant to last years vaccine, and after all as the covid-skeptics keep telling us “CV19 is just Flu”, so it will surely keep mutating just like flu does -no.?

            [1] I suspect you did not spot the change in the UK govts phraseology before Christmas and on New Years Eve, before Christmas they said everyone eligible will have a booster by the new year, on New Years Eve they changed that to everyone eligible has been offed a booster. I don’t mention that to bash the govt, their stated aim was a tall one, but to illiterate that many people are not as protected as some would wish.

            Sorry for the “essay”, but serious issues warrant more than one-line replies.

          5. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Again you ignore the reduced effectiveness of the 3 jabs as time goes on.
            The 90% is the maximum effectiveness at peak point after injection.
            It drops off quite quickly.

            PS
            I am however very grateful to the scientists and NHS and our excellent government for producing the vaccine.

          6. jerry
            January 26, 2022

            @Peter2; “The 90% is the maximum effectiveness at peak point after injection.
            It drops off quite quickly.”

            If that is what you believe why are you advocating the end to the face mask mandate in certain settings, stop trolling, stopt wasting our hosts time!

          7. Peter2
            January 26, 2022

            I’m just pointing out that your 90% figure wasn’t quite right Jerry
            It has taken a long time and several posts but you now seem to agree.
            PS
            I wasn’t actually advocating an end to face masks.

          8. jerry
            January 26, 2022

            @Peter2; I have not agreed with you at all, as you are not taking about, or to, the data released by the CDC in the USA, we all know those without booster doses have a lower level of protection, but that was not what the CDC were reporting on. My original point was to counter the comment made by @NLA when s/he said “The vast majority of us are not at risk of Omicron – especially if we have been triple vaxxed.”, that is clearly dangerous assumption given that here in the UK 10% means circa 6.7m men, women and children are either under protected or have no protection at all, thus normal NHS services could still collapse with the weight of CV19 related admissions.

            If anything, by bring in your usual Whataboutism, you are agreeing with my point, there are a high number of people still at risk from both Omicron and older variants, never mind any new variant.

            “I wasn’t actually advocating an end to face masks.”

            Why are you then attempting to rubbish them elsewhere, posting the comment “Masks don’t work”, arguing that the filtration is not fine enough, in another thread on this page, yet more proof of your trolling behavior. If you must argue two polar opposite opinions at the same time at least use two different user names! What ever…I’m sure you will want the last word yet again.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 23, 2022

      You can do better than that.

      No normal person likes wearing masks, nor being unable to do the everyday enjoyable things to which they are accustomed.

      However, they recognise that if it helps to keep deaths down – even a bit – then they are willing to put up with it in their usual patient manner.

      They are not scared, however, any more than someone who looks before crossing a road is afraid of the traffic.

      Nor are they unreasonably resentful if the scientists – as they do – admit that they might be mistaken in some regards, but that the evidence as it stands suggests that they should make this-or-that recommendation.

      Stop being such an oddball.

      1. Mickey Taking
        January 23, 2022

        People wear masks hoping to be protected from a significant viral load, coughing and sneezing in their direction, and accept that they themselves might be positive so wearing a mask might contain spread , them to someone else. Most people know that the deaths stats have been a nonsense for the last year or so..very few die without any underlying health issues – the most significant being unvaccination when accepting it really reduces the risk of catching and being badly affected by it.
        I wouldn’t label his views as oddball, he’s entitled to have an opinion, most on here seem to think yours are ‘oddball’.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 23, 2022

          As polls show e.g. on covid19 safeguarding measures, most of those here are hardly representative of the majority of people in this country, thank goodness.

          We’d probably have had hundreds of thousands more dead if they were.

          1. Bill B.
            January 24, 2022

            Sweden.

          2. Hat man
            January 24, 2022

            Yes, lad, just like the majority of lemmings agree with the way to go.

        2. jerry
          January 23, 2022

          @MT; People can live with “underlying health issues” for decades, sometimes without even taking any medication, not even knowing they have an “underlying health issue”, so it is not the “underlying health issue” that causes death, it is the CV19 virus.

          As for vaccinations, indeed, but they are only at best 90% efficient, according to recent evidence, and you will only know if you are in the unlucky 10% once you have been infected. Vaccines are helping to control CV19, they are not a cure, we need to learn to live with CV19, not carry on regardless.

          1. Peter2
            January 23, 2022

            So you have a dreadful heart or lung disease or underlying cancer…you are also very old…your dreadful disease isn’t diagnosed…yet because you go into hospital and are then tested days later for covid your demise is entirely covid
            You sure Jerry?

          2. jerry
            January 24, 2022

            @Peter2. No, that is not what I said nor implied.

          3. Mickey Taking
            January 24, 2022

            I know several people ‘living ‘ with COPD, lung cancer awaiting surgical removal, extreme asthma etc… All are aware catching any form of Covid ‘might’ be a death sentence – as is flu etc. Mask wearing is felt to be essential – the minimum preventive measure.
            You can make the stats on blame any way you want to ‘prove’ a point.

          4. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @MT; You appear to be arguing against your own point, not mine, or was that in reply to Peter2 ?…

      2. Peter2
        January 23, 2022

        Masks don’t work
        The filter size in paper masks are far too big to stop infection.

        1. jerry
          January 23, 2022

          @P2; If that is true, and I doubt it, unless you are talking dust masks as used by the building trades etc, that is an argument for a policy to make better masks available, not for a no mask policy.

          This is the reason why I was initially against the wide spread use of masks back in March-April 2020, until lower but still adequate grade medical masks became more widely available, dust masks were likely given a fails sense of security, especially to the most vulnerable

          1. Peter2
            January 24, 2022

            That is an argument for us having to wear masks for ever Jerry.
            Please don’t give them that idea.

          2. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @P2; May-be, CV19 is not going away, and in any case masks have been proven to reduce the spread of Flu also. Grow a spin, stop being so vain, some people have to wear masks for extended periods at work for other H&S reason, only the unthinking complain out-loud…

            Social norms change, sometimes rapidly, for example, apparently only those of ‘high class’ or the better informed [1] used handkerchiefs before 1918, by 1921 it was the social norm for all to use them, those who carried on their old habits (snorting and spitting into the air or on to the ground etc) were often outcast from social gatherings.

            [1] such as my great grandfather, but then he was a boiler stoker at a hospital

        2. hefner
          January 24, 2022

          FFP2/KN95 masks have five layers: three layers of synthetic non-woven material with two filtration layers sandwiched in-between, and proper nose ‘pinch’ and chin-shaped lower part.
          Tests with various particles (NaCl) and liquids (paraffin oil) have shown they filter all particles bigger than 0.075 ÎŒm. 95 refers to the filtration efficacy.
          FFP2/N95: Masks that I am happy to trust in my various travels.

          1. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            That still won’t stop covid particles
            And the basic masks that everyone wear are useless

          2. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @Peter2; Once again you prove just how weak your scientific understanding is, either that or you are trolling again, doing so with dangerous broad-brush lies.

          3. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Masks actually are an area of knowledge due to my previous manufacturing engineering career Jerry.

            The “95” masks hefner mentions are much better than the virtually useless flimsy blue white ones that are almost universally the ones being used
            It is about risk reduction I realise and the effect any mask wearing may also have on the behaviour of wearers.
            However very few I see out and about use the “95” masks.
            I also see masks often worn below the nose or loosely fitted with gaps and other useless home made cloth masks.
            I have read that the tiny particle size of the Covid virus makes the blue white mask virtually useless as the particles can pass through easily.
            PS
            Please stop your silly use of the T word anytime you get a post that disagrees with your set opinion Jerry
            But at least you didn’t descend to the L word this time.
            Progress of sorts.

            Even poor masks do catch or absorb much of the liquid exhaled on breath which is an important part of transmission.

          4. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @Peter2; As I said to @NLA.way-up, best tell that to the Royal Collage of Surgeons and the Royal College of Nursing then, you seem to know more than they do, and current manufactures! If you know so much why is it your ex-career, I used to know a chap who even though in retirement and close to age 90 his field of knowledge from his career was such it kept him in demand as a consultant…

            But even so, all you are doing is making an argument for the provision of more effective masks, or are you now going to claim even the masks use on CV19 wards are useless too?!

            “I have read that the tiny particle size of the Covid virus makes the blue white mask virtually useless as the particles can pass through easily.”

            Could you cite a reference to that, and I assume the test findings have been peer reviewed, I ask as I have also read such claims, often in marketing for expensive designer masks, especially those sold in the USA…

            “I also see masks often worn below the nose or loosely fitted with gaps and other useless home made cloth masks.”

            Once again that is an argument for better education, not the abandonment of masks, just as education was the answer when few people wore seat belts in cars, when some considered them uncomfortable, would you have really told the manufactures not to bother making them any more, not bother designing better, such as the inertia-reel belt?

          5. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            Peter2, if you do not like being called a troll, stop posting like a troll, simple…

            A Troll; (Internet slang). (to post inflammatory material so as) to attempt to lure others into combative argument for purposes of personal entertainment and/or gratuitous disruption, especially in an online community or discussion [from late 20th c.]

            …exactly what you did when you jumped into the polite exchange (elsewhere) between myself and our host, for example, and there are many others.

          6. Peter2
            January 26, 2022

            What you really mean Jerry is stop answering back to any posts made by you.
            Especially when it shows up your weak arguments or inaccuracies.

            PS
            My comments are in no way inflammatory so your attempt to define me as a troll completely fails.

          7. jerry
            January 26, 2022

            What you really mean Peter2 is stop answering back to any posts made by you.
            Especially when it shows up your weak arguments or inaccuracies. Ho-hmm.

            PS
            My comments are in no way irrelevant, mostly researched opinion, occasionally directly cited, so your attempt to paint me as an ignorant fool completely fails.

            PPS
            Stop telling porkies about what you have previously said Peter2, are you so dim not understand that anyone can actually read what has been posted by yourself or others in recent debates or even years before?

            PPPS, Hello, again, Edward2….

            Apologies to our host for asking him indulge me his time again.

          8. Peter2
            January 26, 2022

            It’s called debate Jerry
            Sometimes I post and you think I’m wrong
            Sometimes you post and I think you are wrong.
            It is process through which we learn improve and move on.
            PS
            I have never ever said you were an ignorant fool or anything like it.
            Nor am I “dim” thanks Jerry.

            Hope this isn’t too inflammatory for you.

      3. No Longer Anonymous
        January 23, 2022

        Yup. I could have predicted NLH would have reacted.

        He wants masks to be with us forever.

        He is a mask fetishist.

        1. No Longer Anonymous
          January 23, 2022

          Mickey Taking.

          I have yet to see anyone sneeze in their mask. They ALWAYS take them off to do it and no-one carries spares.

          So.

          We were lied to when told that masks prevent viral load by sneezing. And before you say… we were told to wear masks to protect others and not ourselves.

          It is quite clear that a tiny minority are now at risk of Covid. A fraction of the tiny minority at the outset.

          It is wicked to force school children, the healthy and the low risk to wear them when a tiny minority of vulnerables would be better protected wearing their own FFP3s (issued by Government.)

          Masks are now only wanted by Leftists who want to perpetuate an air of fear and crisis and perverts.

          I say to anyone wearing a useless surgical mask (it says Not For Viral Protection on the box !) to not worry about protecting me … protect yourself if you’re really worried about it.

          I’ve done my bit.

          Taken three jabs I didn’t want and wore masks when I thought they were useful at the outset despite suffering from claustrophobia.

          1. jerry
            January 24, 2022

            @NLA; “It is quite clear that a tiny minority are now at risk of Covid. A fraction of the tiny minority at the outset. “

            Not so, 10% of those vaccinated and up to date with a booster dose, plus all those who are not or can not be vaccinated. That is a fair chunk of the population, enough to bring the NHS to its knees if they all end up in hospital, meaning you or your loved ones don’t get their non CV19 treatments. It also assumes there will be no further mutation of the virus, after all, as the naysayers said, ‘CV19 is just (like) Flue’, and thus a virus that quite possible mutates all the time, that needs a new vaccine each month or year.

            Now here’s a though, for all those who do not want to wear their mask in certain settings, how about you remain at home, after all you can request permission to work from home, if that is not possible you are free to change your job so you can WFH, or change to a job that does not require a mask, such as working outside; you can shop online, even follow your religion and pray online; if you want to watch a film you can subscribe to Netflix, Sky Movies or buy a DVD, if you need an alcohol fix you can either buy a bottle along with your online shopping or sit in the pub garden, if you feel the need to be one of the in-crowd, ‘Zoom’ might be your best friend. No, why ever not, after all is that not what some expect of those unable to be vaccinated and the vulnerable…

            “claustrophobia.”

            Oh you mean like many manual workers feel when they HAVE to wear face masks, most of who get used to it, and even if they don’t (like myself) we understand it is for our own good, no one wants to be told they have Mesothelioma, nor CV19 for that matter. Stop being such a wimp! Those who really do suffer from, and have been diagnosed with, claustrophobia will have a medical exemption from mask wearing.

          2. Mickey Taking
            January 24, 2022

            You have seen wearers take off their mask and sneeze where? Into a tissue or handkerchief, crook of elbow or sleeve? delightful.
            How on earth do you know no-one carries spares?
            what nonsense.

        2. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 24, 2022

          I dislike them, but they are quite a minor burden compared with the vast loss of rights and freedoms of brexit, say.

          1. Mickey Taking
            January 24, 2022

            what rights and freedoms have you lost, living in Cardiff, or visiting Nottingham?

        3. hefner
          January 24, 2022

          And NLA .. are you able to predict when you are reacting?

        4. hefner
          January 28, 2022

          P2, I hope that will not be taken as inflammatory but various laboratory measurements quote a size of the Covid-19 particle around 4 microns.
          ncbi.nlm.nih.gov posting PMC7579175 23/09/2020, Int.J.Envir.Res.Public Health 10.3390/ijerph17196960 ‘Minimum Sizes of Respiratory Particles Carrying SARS-CoV-2 and the Possibility of Aerosol Generation’, B.U. Lee.

      4. Peter2
        January 24, 2022

        At what point will you accept masks are not needed MHL?
        Give us your splendid ideas.

  30. Iago
    January 23, 2022

    We do not have freedom or free markets.

  31. jerry
    January 23, 2022

    I thought it was ours and other govts CV19 lockdowns that had caused the inflationary pressures, high govt borrowing, high cost of shipping etc, not forgetting all that QE successive UK Tory govts have asked for since 2010, now our host is telling us it is all the fault of the ‘independent’ BoE (not that many actually believes they operate totally removed from governmental wishes or needs)…

    If the BoE ‘independence’, their policies, really are out of control why hasn’t the Govt done something about it, that’s their job of pity sake, HMG is still the ‘regulator of last resort’ for the BoE are they not?!

    No wonder staffers at No.10 thought they could hold lockdown parties, no one in Westminster (or Whitehall) now ever seems to take ownership, take responsibility anymore, at one time the Chancellor, if not PM, perhaps even the entire govt, would have resigned.

    Reply As readers of this site will know I do not believe in independent C Banks. However the establishment does and tells us the B of E is independent so they need to take the blame.

    1. jerry
      January 23, 2022

      @JR reply; If the BoE was actually independent its Governor would not need to write a letter to the Chancellor explaining why wider govt polices have caused the Chancellors to miss his own inflation target. I am fully aware that you do not like the BoE’s notional independence, I assume you wish it was not, yet you seem very happy, almost eager, to use their notional ‘independence’ to shift blame onto them from govt. The BoE does not make industrial, energy or public health polices for example yet all affect the inflation rate/target.

      Also is it not usually governments who request their central banks to engage in QE, rather than being a unilateral decision of the bank alone?

      Reply B of E proposed the QE not the govt. Why in your world is no one part from the govt responsible for anything?

      1. jerry
        January 23, 2022

        @JR reply; So if the BoE proposed selling our entire national gold reserve and buying tulips instead would the Chancellor, the PM, cabinet agree, after all what could possibly go wrong…

        Why in your world of politics are govts never responsible for what they have been elected to do, run the country and its institutions! The BoE is wholly owned by HMG (the State), its Governors are appointed by HMG, since 1st June 1998 the MPC has to operate within the government’s monetary policy framework – the BoE is NOT free to make or change such policies.

        Reply No, Parliament would override the B of E if they wanted to buy bulbs. Stupid point. Answer the point at issue. B of E proposed and executed QE so why don’t we examine if this was a good use of their powers.

        1. jerry
          January 23, 2022

          @JR Reply; “No, Parliament would override the B of E if they wanted to buy bulbs. Stupid point.”

          No it wasn’t a “Stupid point”, it was a lighthearted but pertinent point as your reply proves, the BoE is NOT independent at all, and if the Govt can veto the buying Tulip bulbs, why can’t it also veto any wish by the BoE to execute QE?

          Nothing the BoE does is outside of the control of its owners, HMG (the State). If this govt really wanted to, with its 360 odd MP’s, and 40 to 80 seat majority, they could repeal/replace the Bank of England Act 1998 – but why would they, the Act allows the govt of the day to pass the buck, blame the BoE for rocketing inflation, QE or whatever.

          1. Peter2
            January 23, 2022

            No matter now many lengthy pedantic essays you post you are still fighting a losing battle Jerry

          2. jerry
            January 24, 2022

            @P2; Probably, just as you’re still the resident troll. Neither changes the facts, away from partisan opinions, after all if the BoE is actually independent why does the Treasury Solicitor have oversight, dose s/he have (the same) oversight of say HSBC, Lloyd’s?

          3. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Ah your little T word effort again Jerry
            You use it every time your pedantic devil’s advocate essays get trashed.

          4. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @P2; If it quacks, waddles, has webbed feet and loves water it almost certain is a duck!

            If you were not trolling why did you jump into a civilized and concluded discussion (that no one else had joined), adding no additional facts or insight, between myself and our host, a discussion our host/moderator was obviously happy to hold with me, otherwise he could have simply deleted one or all of my comments, or not replied to my comments.

            As for being “pedantic “, facts are always in the detail, not the one liners.

            If you want it you can have the last word here, unlike you I have other things to do with my time…

          5. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Still on your endless essay writing then Jerry.

            You post against everyone 15 times a day, but if anyone dares to counter your pedantic trivia you resort to the T word or even the L word.

            That’s not real debate.

  32. APL
    January 23, 2022

    JR: “I supported the massive creation of cash in 2020 and the ultra low rates. ”

    Then you were a fool. ‘massive creation of cash’, coupled with destruction of economic activity in the ÂŁ zone, equals guarenteed massive inflation. Here we are eighteen months later with exactly what you got for us.
    Stand by for enormous MP pay increases!

    JR: “The Bank of England plunges us into inflation”

    No, Rushi Sunak and the Tory administration you supported, have plunged us into inflation. Not that the imbeciels in the Labour party would have done anything better.

    In fact, THE only fiscal response to any crisis, is print more cash.

  33. X-Tory
    January 23, 2022

    Off topic, but indicative of the government’s deceitfulness and stupidity: I have read today that Syria is the country from which most asylum seekers come, and yet the government has now announced that it will not send anybody back there. This means that despite all the pretence by Priti Useless that she will stop the Channel invasion, she and her pointless Bill will, in reality do NOTHING. People will know that all they have to do is say they come from Syria and they will be allowed to stay! The woman is not just useless, but clearly a fraud as well – just like Boris and the rest of this appalling government.

    Of course we should send these bogus asylum seekers (who have travelled through lots of safe countries to get here) back to Syria, or wherever they originate from, be it Afghanistan, Yemen, or anywhere else. Once they know that coming to the UK will result in them automatically being returned to square one they will stop coming here, and the problem will be solved. But Boris and Patel have no intention of doing anything other than LIE to the British people.

    1. jerry
      January 23, 2022

      @X-Tory; In short you seem to want the govt to withdraw the UK from both the ECHR, its Charter being penned by one Winston Churchill among others, and leave the UN, preferring for the UK to step outside of international law. I can understand why you self-describe as an ex-Tory…

      “People will know that all they have to do is say they come from Syria and they will be allowed to stay!”

      Well I could claim to be from Timbuktu, heck even Moscow, but I would hate to be asked any detailed questions of those places, and thus prove my previous citizenship…

      1. X-Tory
        January 23, 2022

        1. There is no need for us to leave the UN. We have a veto there and thus I am very happy for us to remain members.
        2. There is NO SUCH THING AS INTERNATIONAL LAW. There are treaties and agreements, but these are NOT ‘laws’. For there to be international law there would need to be an international government – which there isn’t.
        3. Yes, we should definitely leave the ECHR. It is well beyond its sell-by date. The world has changed since the post-war world when it was established. We cannot allow ourselves to be ruled by foreigners. The US is not a member of the ECHR, so why should we be?

        1. Peter2
          January 23, 2022

          Well said X Tory.

        2. jerry
          January 23, 2022

          @X-Tory; In other words, Stop the world, I want to get off….

          Syria is still a war zone, it would be illegal under UN and ECHR laws to return people to an active war zone. There is international law, that is what those treaties created, yes the UK could withdraw from them, nor does there need to be an “international Government” to create such treaties. The USA is not a member of the ECHR because it is not a European country, it is a member of the UN though and is thus a ‘signatory’ to the UDHR, from which the ECHR was created.

          As for leaving the ECHR, perhaps that is a very good idea, then the UK can then outlaw the freedom to hold ‘extreme’ political opinions, for those who refuse to be silenced we could intern them without fair trail etc etc (self edit). Ho-hmm.

          1. Peter2
            January 24, 2022

            Syria has a population of 18 million people Jerry and it is surrounded by nations with similar religions and cultures and languages.
            If a number of Syrians wish to flee then they should seek sanctuary in the nearest country not travel to the UK, thus defining themselves not as refugees but as economic migrants trying to push their way past the proper immigration procedures.

            Your last paragraph is a silly fantasy.
            It isn’t a European Court that keeps us free.
            Playing devils advocate all the time may keep you busy but I feel these are not your real views.

          2. hefner
            January 24, 2022

            (Before the pandemic) Syria, 70% of the population displaced, 13-14 m out of 18-20 m. 6 m Syrians out of the country, with 3.4 m in Turkey, 1 m in Lebanon, 660 k in Jordan, 530 k in Germany, the rest in Iraq, Egypt, Sweden, Canada, Austria, USA. How many in the UK? 17,051 granted asylum (as of June 2019 via the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme) of whom 13,500 refugees (pewresearch.org, refugee-action.org.uk).
            It would seem that about 5.5 m have done just that ‘seek sanctuary in the nearest country: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt).

          3. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @hefner; Stop giving P2 facts, you’ll only confuse ‘him’.

            @Peter2; Once again you show noting other than your own ignorance, no one has mentioned the “European Court”, for pity sake go learn the difference between that and the ECHR. Sometimes pedantry matters…

            You appear to have jumped into a discussion were you have failed to read the original comments properly, @ex-Tory was suggesting that NON-Syrians might try to apply for asylum here in the UK by claiming to be fleeing from Syria. Nor does the UN rules on asylum make those lawfully seeking safe-haven apply in the first ‘safe’ country they reach, for some very good reasons.

            As for that “silly fantasy”, as you call it, if the UK is not bound by the ECHR (and UN) charter on human rights and personal freedoms why do some on the right want the UK to leave, might it be because their own political dreams are in conflict – all I did was suggest ‘the left’ might get there first.

          4. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Well good hefner.
            I’m pleased the vast majority moved to neighbouring countries.
            Much easier for them to return back home when it is safe to do so.
            I presume you agree that they all would desire to return home including the approx 20,000 that have come to the UK.
            PS
            Do we count as a Syrian someone that flees to say an EU country lives there for a year or two and then moves on to the UK?

          5. Peter2
            January 25, 2022

            Jerry
            Having different views to you isn’t silly nor ignorance.
            Just a different opinion.
            You need to calm down.
            And be less aggressive and abusive.

          6. jerry
            January 25, 2022

            @Peter2; Take your own advice!

          7. Peter2
            January 26, 2022

            I am quite calm and I am not aggressive or abusive.
            Unlike you.

  34. Norman
    January 23, 2022

    Sir John, the government’s response to Public Health and Climate fears, with its globalist dimension, was bound to lead to inflation. I cannot remember when I last saw a bank note that hadn’t been freshly printed, and with debit cards now paying out ÂŁ100 a swipe, we appear to be living under some kind of delusion.
    Controlled demolition comes to mind, like the tragic scene of perfectly good power station cooling towers coming down.
    And now, we have the spectacle of warmongering in the East- who will pay the price for all the bloodshed that could needlessly cause? Should we not understand Putin better, and call his bluff in other ways?

    “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
    Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.” (Job 28:12-13)

  35. Sakara Gold
    January 23, 2022

    How embarrassing for the new Chief of the Defence Staff that in the middle of the Ukraine crisis, the Russian Navy has announced that it will be undertaking a major live fire exercise 150km off SW Ireland in February. This comes after a major Russian amphibious assault squadron (of 8 ships) ran the Channel past HMNB Devenport and Plymouth last week. All the Navy could do was to send HMS Dragon (a Type 45 destroyer) and HMS Tyne (an Offshore Patrol Vessel) out to “keep an eye on them”

    Admiral Sir Tony Radakin confirmed immediately after assuming his new role that the RN will not, after all, be getting a modern off-the-shelf antiship missile to replace the obsolete Harpoon. Our warships will not now be able to defend themselves from over-the-horizon threats

    Johnson’s savage defence cuts have now come home to roost. All our Challenger II tanks have been dismantled awaiting an upgrade. The Royal Artillery with its AS90 system is completely outgunned by the Russians. The British Army has been reduced to 20,000 infantry. The RAF has only ~50 airworthy Typhoon fighters (with the rest in bits awaiting spare parts) and their advanced ECRS MK2 AESA radar is two years away.

    Heads should roll at the MoD, starting with the Chairman of the All Party Defence Committee Tobias Ellwood and indeed Wallace himself. These people have left our country completely exposed.

    1. Mitchel
      January 24, 2022

      The Russian Pacific fleet is getting (an additional)four new nuclear subs.

      Combining their operations with the Chinese,will leave AUKUS looking like a publicity-seeking sideshow.

  36. outsider
    January 23, 2022

    Dear Sir John. I fear that you, like the Bank and the Treasury, have become converts to investment bank economics; slogan “What is good for asset prices is good for the United States”. For the whole 11 years of Conservative government, we have combined public sector deficits on current spending (let alone overall) with negative real interest rates.. For all that time you have all agreed that the economy needed to be kept on a drip feed in the emergency ward. At the same time, at least since about 2014, you have claimed that the economy is in rude health.
    Now, Sir John, you argue that raising tax to reduce the chronic and massive PSBR is excessive and/or counterproductive , while at the same time cautioning that the Bank should not overdo tightening even though real money interest rates are minus 5 per cent and falling. Since you are nobody’s fool, you plainly do not regard inflation control as a priority.

  37. Paul Cuthbertson
    January 23, 2022

    The BoE is a central bank. Just research who owns and controls the majority of central banks throughout the world.

    Yes I have. The public owns the CBs in each territory and they are under the law made by the Parliament/Congress. Government acts as the 100% shareholder on behalf of the public.

  38. No Longer Anonymous
    January 23, 2022

    So now every junction is now a Zebra Crossing in effect. Cyclists are obliged to ride in the centre of a road lane and two abreast and NOT use cycle lanes even where provided.

    80 seat bloody majority !

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      January 23, 2022

      When I learnt to drive in the 1970s that is exactly as I was taught, so what changed in between?

      1. Enough Already
        January 23, 2022

        The crossings now come in all shades of rainbow.

      2. No Longer Anonymous
        January 23, 2022

        Then why the rule changes, NLH ?

        Who stops on a major road turning into a minor if someone is standing on a kerb ? (Fair enough if a pedestrian is already in the road.)

        And my cycling proficiency taught me to cycle by the kerb and only in the middle of a lane if turning right.

        These are big rule changes with the Highway Code updated to show them.

        This 80 seat majority Tory Govt is anti car and even if we all converted to electric tomorrow wants us out of those cars too.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          January 24, 2022

          All courteous drivers have always done that, as I say, as I was taught in the 1970s.

          Is it such a big deal anyway?

          1. Mickey Taking
            January 24, 2022

            when you were taught there were fewer cars on the road, and the roads were in better condition. I passed my (first!) test early 60s and cyclists could ride near the kerb, nowadays they risk these daft thin tyres hitting drains, potholes etc and being hurled into the path of congested traffic. Pedestrians could often glance at the road and step out so little traffic, and most cars (and bikes) driving much more slowly than today with far more efficient brakes.

  39. David Kemball-Cook
    January 23, 2022

    ‘They could allow the Bank to print and they could spend it routed to them as near zero interest loans which the state then bought up. These are not state debts we now have to pay off as the state owns the debt as well as owes it.’
    I think that the Bank bought the debt from the state, not the other way round.
    But you are right that the debt never has to be paid back.
    I should add that these gilts should have been issued at zero percent, not near zero.

    Reply I was pointing out that when the CB buys the debt it is the state buying it as the State owns the CB

  40. formula57
    January 23, 2022

    Is not the present inflation rooted in supply side issues and hence the Bank has no hope of controlling it?

    Accordingly, we might hope that the Bank will be well-able to accommodate Mr. Sunak’s foolishness by acting in ways that do not exacerbate the harm he does as he leads us onward to this summer’s Sunak Slump.

  41. anon
    January 23, 2022

    So if all this QE cash had been spent on productive assets inflation would be lower?

    Shame it wasn’t all spent on a nationalized renewable energy fund to enable energy independence, self sufficiency and storage tech.Before we closed perfectly good plant and reliable supply.
    Granted we may have had some problems when the way does not blow, but the rest of the time we would be in surplus. Having old plant available for the winter with built up stores of whatever was needed, be it gas,coal or other new tech.

    Its not just a BOE problem, but a supply problem when your overseas suppliers want hard money not funny money.

  42. Nota#
    January 24, 2022

    So, tax payer funded people can permit an out of line target over/under shoot by some 300% and that is OK. Main stream industry with a CEO that inept the Board would just hand them their ‘cards’.

    Is it an inept Government or a laissez faire Bank of England or just policy to drive the UK into crippling debt as with the majority of the Socialist doctrine on economy now practiced that gets to rule the roost.

    No Conservatives left.

    Yours Nota#

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