Thieves' paradise
THEY have tried lecturing the markets. Harold Wilson tried that too. He blamed the dealers for listening to ale-house gossip, an affront resented by my City friends who drank in wine vaults. Markets test minis- ters' resolve. They work like hotel thieves, sauntering down the corridors, trying the door-handles. If they meet resistance they move on. If the handle turns, their luck is in. At the Grand Hotel Euro, they have had a field-day. In the end, ministers learn that if they want to resist the pressure on their currencies, there are only three things they can do. They can raise interest rates. They can wade in and start buying what others are selling, though (as Wilson found) all they may achieve is to reinforce failure. Lastly, they can make their own domestic policies less self-indulgent. They may not, of course, care for any of these courses, in which case the hotel thieves will notice, as indeed they have.
Previous page
