What a shower - they are not fit to govern the country

Not only that Maizie, but the Japanese invest, even though they receive nil (or in some cases negative) interest because the Japanese government is seen as safe.

This is an excellent link from the BofE, all about Quantitative Easing (aka 'printing money')

Their chart shows that since 2008 there has been £645 billion of QE (and not a penny of it have we had to 'pay back' to anyone...)

www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/quantitative-easing

Absolutely, growstuff.

And the Germans are selling negative interest bonds, which investors are snapping up...

The UK national debt ratio has some way to go before it reaches a historic high.

www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_1692_2020UKp_17c1li011tcn_G0t_Three_Centuries_Of_UK_National_Debt

Not all events were being cancelled MaizieD - the Welsh (Labour) Government did not cancel two Stereophonics concerts in Cardiff a week before Boris lockdown.

Eloethan yours of 01.02.16.

first rule- debits (dr) on the left; credits (cr) on the right.

If a bank lends £100 to you, you are shown in their records as a debtor. In your records the bank is your creditor.

In your books (theoretical unless you're a very organised controller of household finances ) the double entry is as follows:

Dr Cr

Your bank loan
money coming in 100.00

Your bank loan
Money going out 50.00
" " " 50.00
_ _
100.00 100.00
_ _

In the bank's books the loan is an asset. In your hands it's a creditor.

An example of double entry book-keeping, pioneered by Romans, then the Jewish community in the Middle East in early medieval times. First records of modern double entry still extant are from Florence in the 13C.

Believe it or not, it's often quite difficult to grasp. it took me several months.

Apologies if the above is too simplistic.

Drive on the left crash on the right??

No, Pantglas. I am very well aware that not all events were cancelled. I didn't say that they were.

All I was pointing out was that people were taking lockdown type precautions before lockdown and that the government was reacting to public pressure rather than being proactive (i.e initiating action)

Oh dear, it doesn't look as I typed it. All neatly set out.
I couldn't get the hang of underlining.

WWM I like you analogy - hadn't heard that one.

One of the first lessons in accountancy???

I can't help feeling that the government's strategy is to govern by focus group, in an attempt to keep itself popular. That's how Leave won the referendum. They followed what people said they wanted, even if those actions weren't the best course of action as part of a bigger picture.

As you point out, it wasn't until public opinion started shifting and panic set in at the rising number of cases that the government acted.

Not so much 'following the science' but following 'the will of the people' you mean?

I see Nadine Dorries has been caught out doctoring a video of Starmer.

She’s now been forced to delete it along with a couple of her cronies, who have deleted theirs.

Not a lot of class there.

Thank you Dinhamo. I did have a vague understanding of the principles of bookkeeping but I appreciate you taking the trouble to set it out more clearly.

A bank is very different from any other large or small business. In effect it prints its own money, and we're talking about hundreds of millions of pounds. I think the point I was trying to make is the bank's "asset" is only, in a sense, theoretical because although it is earning money from the interest whilst retaining the right to the capital amount, if the debtor becomes unable to pay the capital and interest and has no other assets that can be sold or seized, the loan isn't an asset, it's a liability - and the period before the loan is fully paid back can be some years, yet the transaction is still recorded as an asset.

It is my understanding that in 2008 "light touch" regulation and poor oversight resulted in risky loans being granted. It was in the interests of bankers to pass all sorts of loans because, on paper, it looked like the banks were doing well - and massive bonuses were paid out on that basis.

Even when the whole lot came tumbling down, although thousands of lower paid workers lost their jobs, I don't recall the top people being seriously affected. Maybe there was a shift round of senior people - I don't know - but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the senior people in post then are still working at a senior level in the finance sector.

The government was left to pick up the tab. But this meant that ultimately it was the British public who came off the worst when draconian austerity measures were introduced and VAT was raised to 20% - both of which made the average worker worse off.

Don’t expect a resignation though. As I said

No class

Brexit. That horrible word!

Remember Johnson’s absolute insistence that there was to be no border checks in NI?

Lies.

Remember that he also insisted that British farmers will be protected?

Lies

To be fair to Dorries, WWmk2, she didn't actually doctor the video, she 'just' retweeted it, with a comment. As did the two other tory MPs.

I don't suppose there'll be any pearl clutching among the Bojo Babes about that.

Fruity language is completely beyond the pale, but MPs attempting to smear the Labour Leader with a doctored video?

The government was left to pick up the tab. But this meant that ultimately it was the British public who came off the worst when draconian austerity measures were introduced and VAT was raised to 20% - both of which made the average worker worse off.

And, what is more, there was absolutely no need at all for the 'austerity', as we've been discussing earlier in this thread. It was just an excuse to cut public spending to the bone and sell off as much as possible to the tory's mates and donors...
There was no debt to pay off...

Am I right in remembering a labour minister, Liam Byrne I think it was, leaving a note ‘there’s no money left’. Or did I just imagine that ......

Apparently that was a joke!! But not a very funny one!!

Ah a joke! Maybe Nadine Dorries was having a joke too.

It was a joke, and he was not the first outgoing minister to have made the joke, it's happened in the past. There is never 'no money'. It can always be issued.

Whereas Nadine Dorries is a disgrace; an MP, and Minister, tweeting smears against the leader of the Opposition. She should have been sacked, not just 'spoken to'.

It won’t be long before KS is being smeared like JC. Hopefully with his legal experience he’ll be able to rebuff it.

It was wrong of Cameron to wave the 'there's no money' note around on television as if it wasn't a joke that had been made before. I wonder if he mentions it in his book?

WWM2 you are in danger of doing the same kind of thing!
You say that Dorries doctored a video of Starmer.....err, no she didn’t.
I wish all politicians would stop with the impulsive tweets (before they check facts) but so many people do it now, including GNers.