Monday briefing: How to understand the huge numbers that rule our economy

‘If a penny represents one million, then 1,000 pennies, or £10, represents one billion, and a million pennies, or £10,000, represents one trillion.’ Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Good morning. I don’t really understand numbers. There, I’ve said it. I don’t! I mean, I understand some very rough numbers: I know that £1 is a pint of milk and change, and £100 is a tank of petrol, and £1,000 is a holiday, and £10,000 is a reliable car, and £1m is a big house in Leeds and a small one in London, and £10m is a mediocre Premier League footballer probably on Southampton’s radar.

These are all numbers I can put on a scale without thinking about it, because I have a lot of practice, especially with the last. But outside a few quite limited realms, confusion descends more quickly than I’m generally prepared to admit.