Watching the Westminster Cabal – ready to pounce …

 

And so into the weekend – something the various MSM chief editors must be looking forward to,, with sighs of relief. A quick look at the morning papers shows the assumed divide between the readers of the Red Tops and the broadsheets: the latter are talking about Kwarteng and the economy, sort of, while the former are writing about the possibility that finally the body of the last of the Moor Murders victims might have been found (link) . Oiks, you understand, cannot possibly be interested in the economy. 

Interestingly, two news items which should have been headlined have been shuffled towards the bottom of the pile. Of course, it’s a bit difficult to climb down from the ‘get rid of Truss now’ carousel or indeed move away from the ‘everybody wants Starmer in No 10’ bandwagon. However, the economy is of concern to all of us. So let’s look at a totally hairraising report first. The ONS, the Whitehall entity whose task is to crunch numbers, had made a mistake with far-reaching consequences:

“In normal times, official data revisions of a few decimal points don’t grab the headlines. But with the stroke of a keyboard, Britain’s official statistics body wiped out a recession on Friday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) changed its estimates for GDP growth between April and June up from a contraction of 0.1pc to expansion of 0.2pc. It suggests that the UK economy was actually growing and not shrinking in the period – meaning fears that the UK at this point entered a downturn were incorrect. This revision is significant.” (paywalled link)

While a normal peasant like myself might have shrugged and wondered how this minuscule difference could’ve been so important, the Bank of England reacted immediately, resulting in the ‘crash of ££” after the mini-budget was announced. Allegedly, this ONS error let the BoE to rise interest rate by 0.5% only:

“[…] instead of the 0.75 rise or higher that some traders had been hoping for. In its assessment, a big increase could have risked badly damaging the UK economy at a time of existing weakness That decision in turn was a negative for the pound, which generally rises if interest rates go up more steeply. The following day, sterling sold off sharply when the Chancellor’s mini-Budget was badly received by markets. Over the weekend, it crashed to an all-time low and sparked a wave of turmoil.”  (paywalled link)

Now isn’t this interesting: firstly, we’re told the crash was due to the mini-budget, even unto the IMF ‘intervening’. Now we learn that the ££ crashed because traders ‘expected’ a larger rise in interest rates by the BoE. Of course, all those ‘experts’ are now saying this revision didn’t really matter at all, that everything is still as bad as can be and that there will be a recession anyway. You might like to read what Alex Brummer in the DM has to say about this ‘tiny error’, under the headline: “The data shows the UK is no ‘sick man of Europe’ after ONS says the country is NOT in a recession” (link).

Ah well, anybody can make a mistake. The ONS, being a Whitehall department, is not to blame, therefore let’s not mention the ONS or the BoE and go with the ‘Truss must go’ and ‘Toree Austeritee’ theme, as The Times does in their Saturday edition. After all, they must somehow influence the mood of the Tory Party members attending their Conference which starts tomorrow.

The headlines in The Times demonstrate how they’re playing for their lefty Islington dinner clientele, e.g.:“Now even Liz Truss’s allies are feeling rattled – Conservative MPs believe the party is in serious crisis” (link, paywalled), headlining the dreaded austerity theme next: “Truss ally Simon Clarke prepares UK for new age of austerity” (link, paywalled).

To crown it all, savour the headline for Matthew Parris’ Saturday column: “This prime minister must be dispatched now – It’ll take courage to end the Truss horror show but it is the only way to offer the Tory party — and the country — hope.” (link, paywalled) – yes, really! The stupendous idiocy of that Parris piece doesn’t need commenting. All I’ll say is that yes, it’ll be of great benefit for this country to have another two months of Tory Party electioneering while the economy, the energy crisis, inflation all need to be tackled, never mind addressing NATO’s promise to the Ukraine that they’ll help to get back the provinces which have just voted to re-join Russia.

But let’s not talk about that – we know that Truss and Ben Wallace, together with the combined military experts in the MSM will happily support the Ukraine to the last armaments we actually possess, and never mind the consequences for the defence of the realm or indeed the economy.

And so to the other news item: the ££ rallied to ‘pre-Kwarteng levels’. The FT sniffily writes: “Sterling almost erases losses from Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget – UK currency remains about 9% lower for the past three months” (link, paywalled), acknowledging that ‘the panic is over’ while still talking down the economy which is still ‘worse’ than it was 9 months ago.

Apparently, the FT ‘experts’ are unaware of the conditions in our trading partners in e.g. Gemrnay, and are apparently unaware that nine months ago the mood music in their august publication and in all the Westminster MSm was ‘get rid of Johnson’. Still, it’s somehow Truss’ fault. Of course, nosey old cows like me would linke to know what the wonderful Starmer did and said during those nine months, Funny, I can’t recall any significant observations … 

The DT is ‘celebrating’ in their headline that the ££ ‘had it’s best week since 2020’ (paywalled link). Rowing back somewhat from the doom and gloom, they’re trying hard to make out that this was just something to be expected in volatile markets. Nothing to do with economic correspondents and ‘experts’ blasting away at the Truss-Kwarteng combo in order to elevate Labour to the pinnacle of power!

Disregarding the reference to the Kwarteng budget – they would have to mention this in order to keep some shreds of credibility – The Times correspondents provide a reality check:

“The pound rallied overnight, climbing back to its level before the dramatic plunge in value triggered by Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget one week ago. Sterling has rebounded from Monday’s record low of $1.0327, climbing as high as $1.1222 in early trading on Asian markets. Those gains pared back to $1.1156 at 9am, but sterling remains on course for a 2.3 per cent gain, and what would be its best week since the end of 2020. Against the euro, the pound was up by 0.4 per cent to €1.14 from Monday’s low of €1.11. The FTSE100 lifted 35 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6916 as markets opened. The FTSE 250 was climbing back from its worst session since the onset of the pandemic, and rose 255 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 17,050.” (link, paywalled)

I wonder if the readers of the broadsheets appreciate the way their august publications are bashing Truss and Kwarteng for ‘economic mistakes’ while letting ‘experts’, bankers, the ONS and the IMF off the hook. This whole episode doesn’t speak well for their allegedly unbiased, factual reporting, does it!

I leave you with news that Brits, like their German counterparts, have been taking measures: “Chainsaw sales soar as Brits buy 35,000 woodburners in three months to keep themselves warm during the energy crisis” (link). I suspect that these are Audi-Avenue-dwellers, probably WFH who can afford those expenses. Will they listen to the ‘experts’ wailing how  wood-burning would lead to ‘moar pollution’? I wonder …

Even so, I think that this is perhaps the tip of an iceberg, of us ordinary people providing for ourselves and our own, battening down our own hatches as best we can. It’s all done quietly without fanfare, and without the Westminster cabal noticing. It’s yet another sign that we, the people, have disengaged from the Westminster circus of hysteria and fear.  Long may it last!



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