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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Larry Elliott

The crises of the past two years have killed the idea that markets will fix everything

Striking dock workers at the Felixstowe dockyard, Suffolk, 24 August 2022.
Striking dock workers at the Felixstowe dockyard, Suffolk, 24 August 2022. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

It’s six months this week since Russia invaded Ukraine and, let’s face it, things could be going better. The conflict is dragging on and the economic costs of the war are rising. Europe has been pushed to the brink of a deep recession by the Kremlin’s weaponisation of energy.

But it is not just that Vladimir Putin has killed off the global recovery that followed the end of lockdowns. Just as significantly, he has also driven another nail into the coffin of laissez-faire economics. For the second time this decade, Britain – along with the rest of Europe – is on an economic war footing. Radical action is needed to prevent an economic catastrophe this winter, just as it was when Covid-19 arrived in early 2020.

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