20 MARCH 1971, Page 29

SKINFLINT'S CITY DIARY

Of course workpeople or anyone else should be allowed to make political protest by withholding their work. When the Socialists Were in power and going in for a lot of fee-fi-fo-fum taxation threats 1 thought it would have worked wonders if holders of National Savings had threatened to encash, say, 10 per cent of their holdings. There is over £8,000m deposited, most of it on quick call. A large encashment would have threatened the authorities with wild inflation if £800-odd million had reached the high streets. Withdrawals on this scale might have been difficult to meet without resort to the printing presses and a moratorium on with- , drawals—which may well have led to a stampede before severe spending regulators were applied.