The Coffee House debt counter - information and sources

23 April 2005

National debt: Taken from public sector net debt figures (PSND) in Table B13 of Pre-Budget 2009. PSND rising from £618.8 billion on 5 April 2009 to £798.9 billion a year later. This is the most conservative of the available debt indices as it excludes liabilities for PFI deals, public sector pensions and bank bailouts.

Family share: Calculated by dividing the national debt figure by the number of households in the UK. Number of households taken as 25.7 million, as per the written answer to a Parliamentary question in March 2009.

To insert the debt counter on your own site use this code:

<iframe width="300" height="115" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.spectator.co.uk/odometer/index.php?a=1"></iframe>

Corsair

April 25th, 2009 8:45pm Report this comment

Can we have this as a gadget for people to put on their blogs etc?

Merlin

June 25th, 2009 3:44pm Report this comment

It would be interesting to have another counter including the
liabilities for PFI deals, public sector pensions and bank bailouts

Mark Bicknell

July 22nd, 2009 8:43pm Report this comment

As the government adnits to a National Debt of about £800 billion should not the counter reflect this?

Diana Andre de la Porte

August 3rd, 2009 8:54am Report this comment

Dear Mary,
For years now my partner and I have enjoyed an idyllic life in Provence. Our house is roomy and pretty and we have a small pool. Friends and family from around the world have visited us, and some have even written notes of thanks.

This year an old school friend and husband who have already visited several times invited themselves for what turns out to be five days. When a second school friend + husband announced they would like to come too I was helpless to refuse. However when they sent me a copy of the 'itinerary' of their 'French Holiday 2009' I was startled to find my 'house' sandwiched between an expensive hotel on the Cote d'Azur and an equally expensive hotel further down the coast. Clearly I am the non-paying B&B.

Should I create a diplomatic illness, tell them I have become a Chambre d'Hote, move out? My partner and I have not had a proper holiday for 3 years and cannot afford to go out to restaurants. We are both pensioners and neither of us is rich. Dear Mary, please advice

Dave Yates

July 11th, 2011 6:24pm Report this comment

Your counter is not showing the rate of increase of the National Debt.
It is showing the increasing cost of the annual interest of the debt at what would appear to be 3.4%/annum
The £27bn shown has not factored in the Deficit for the last 12 months (Approx £150bn), and according to George Osborne in his budget speech of this year the rate of interest on our debt "is down to 3.6%", as such your counter should now be showing a figure in the region of £34.2bn!
Your household share indicator would closer represent the share of the national debt distributed amongst the country, but seems a little high based on the criteria you have chosen. I would suggest a figure nearer £37,000 per household.

http://apoliticalparty.blogspot.com

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