RAPID RESPONSES
Xmas trimmings
Your comment pieces by Detlev Schlichter and Andrea Leadsom yesterday reminded me of an entry in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – “In this year [1124] before Christmas King Henry gave instructions that all the moneyers who were in England should be deprived of their members, namely the right hand of each and their testicles below: the reason for this was that anyone who had a pound found it would not buy a penn’orth in a market… All this was done in the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, and was entirely justified because they had ruined the whole country by the magnitude of their fraud which they paid for to the full.”
We are assured by Sir Mervyn King and his acolytes that printing money does not cause inflation. Somehow I just can’t believe him. Debase a currency at your peril. Particularly in the period approaching Christmas.
John Davies
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City state?
The proposed Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) risks driving out thousands of jobs to other financial centres. Should the City of London declare itself a separate city state like the Vatican? It certainly has the resources and diplomatic connections to make this move and it may well be the only long-term solution to preserving its independence from the interference of UK and European governments in its affairs.
Bernard O’Grady