The real world
Sir: I feel that Tony Rudd's piece, 'Flaming June' (27 June), confuses what the Bank of England has said on wages. Far from saying that 'wages need to be kept practically unchanged in real terms for the next few years', the Bank has said there is little room for increases in money wages, i.e. that in real terms wages will have to fall. Keynes found a way of reducing money wages, but not real wages. So we do have .a senous problem. However, the people mentioned by Mr Rudd — who live in some real world, and 'think that the only light is behind us and the only way to get there is to climb back out' — ought to be more explicit about their proposals. Climb back to where? Increasing inflation and, after a short respite, still increasing unemployment? How long could we sustain that situation?
Malcolm Hoppe 31 Lincoln Drive, Pyrford, Woking, Surrey
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