The throng saying we’re entering a recession has been joined by its most significant member so far. Mervyn King deployed the R-word in a speech to Leeds businessmen last night, and the markets have reacted accordingly. Sterling collapsed against the dollar – hitting a five-year low of $1.6203 earlier. Whilst the FTSE share index has looked wobbly since opening. All of which fuels the idea that no amount of Mandelsonian manoeuvring – or no amount of public cash – can prevent the poor state of the economy being the story of the next few weeks, months, years. The question that remains is whether Brown & Co. will capitalise because of it. Or whether it will sink them.
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