Neil Kinnock’s timely letter (9 September) reminds us that we are not alone in suffering high gilt yields and borrowing costs. We are still feeling the fallout from Covid, and it needs mentioning that our national debt is similar to America’s and much less than Japan’s, and it never gets mentioned that Italy routinely runs 100% of GDP debt. But as Kinnock observes, the policies of several Conservative governments (including Brexit) have made things worse, and the problem for us is not so much the actual debt but our direction of travel. The aforementioned will make the bond markets view us with a more jaundiced eye.
It was predictable that Jamie Dimon would pop up at this point (JP Morgan boss meets Burnham and Healey to warn against bank tax rise, 10 September). He talks about potential lack of investment by the banks. What investment? We aren’t even a nation of shopkeepers any longer; we’re a nation of pizza deliverers.
