CITY AND SUBURBAN
Norman Lamont has a lost weekend but a winning game
CHRISTOPHER FILDES
Norman Lamont flew to Washington and back for the weekend. It is pleasant at this time of year, the blossom should be out by the Jefferson monument, and his journey was no more a waste of time and money than anyone else's. After the Group of Seven finance ministers met, they all went off to do what they meant to do in the first place. The Americans, having tried on the idea of interest rate cuts all round, cut their own. The Germans can raise theirs if they want to, but they are in such a mess that they now frighten no one. The trouble with these `G-7 meetings' is that what started as a dinner party has become an institution. Nigel Lawson and the boys got together in the Plaza Hotel and ambushed the dollar — but the G-7 could not ambush the doziest currency. They can be seen a mile away, with their regular meetings embossed on the calen- dar, and the permanent troupe of officials (the `0-7 Deputies', each with his de- puties) to keep them in line and fluff out the agenda with case-by-case studies of debtor countries. Mr Lamont, like Mr Lawson before him, said that people with absolutely no money should not pay it back. On more practical subjects he needed to say nothing. The game is still going his way, the American rate-cut has helped, and our own next cut in interest rates cannot be far over the horizon.
Previous page
