I want it now
I AM uneasy to find Robin Leigh- Pemberton, Governor of the Bank of England, lecturing the nation on its social attitudes. Thrift has gone out of fashion, so he told a dinner of savings bankers, and this forms part of a wider cultural change: `Indeed, the all too prevalent outlook on life has become "I want it, and I want it now." ' I hope I may say without offence that Mr Leigh-Pemberton is not describing this outlook at first hand. His worldly wants must be substantially met. His cir- cumstances are comfortable, and his salary runs at £132,558 a year, besides whatever the Bank is paying towards his pension. Those who are differently placed may, in fact, be responding rationally to economic and monetary policies in which the Bank of England plays its part. People save for a rainy day, and it is not surprising that the sunny and prosperous 1980s made that day look more remote. They ended, though, with inflation, the saver's deadliest enemy, resurgent. That is the Bank of England's direct concern. Mr Leigh-Pemberton wants the Bank to be given a statutory duty to protect the currency and curb inflation, but it is not, at the moment, doing very well. If the Governor wonders what has happened to thrift, he should reflect that savings have in the last year lost one-tenth of their value. Anxious to change social attitudes, he should know where to start.
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