21 DECEMBER 1991, Page 58

No room, no money

HOUSELESS at Christmas, no room, as at first — a surge of seasonal compassion comes from ministers confronted with the consequences of their actions, and anxious to find someone else to blame. The mort- gage lenders are called in and told to stop repossessing houses, or at least to find ways of slowing down. Just so, in the summer, the Chancellor called in the High Street hankers and told them to stop being beastly to their customers. As if the lenders were in charge of monetary policy, and had made it swing so wildly between splurge and squeeze! Even now, the Treasury pretends not to be worried if money and credit are shrinking — that is just 'a response to reductions of wealth in recent years'. So if people lose all their wealth, and the roof over the head as well, they won't need so much money?