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Edmund Conway

What the...

Here are some initial stream-of-consciousness thoughts. Apologies if they’re a bit incoherent. This much we know: today is already one of the most extraordinary and volatile days in UK economic history. For the time being, leave aside, if you can, all your questions about the future of the United

The new new normal

The new new normal

It says something about the state of the world economy that as of the latest data Britain was the G7’s fastest growing economy in the final quarter of 2016. With growth of only 0.5%. And yet that is the world we now seem to be living in. One

When crunch talks go wrong

When crunch talks go wrong

It’s a little-known fact that John Maynard Keynes was dosed up on mind-altering drugs when he carried out one of the most important economic negotiations in British history. The ageing economist was suffering from heart disease when he was sent away to secure Britain’s post-war loan with the

The most unaffordable property in Britain

There is no such thing as a perfect measure of housing affordability – after all no two homebuyers are the same. Some will be taking out enormous mortgages to part-finance their dream home. Others will be lucky enough to pay in cash. Some are buying as investment, others to live in

Can Osborne find the feelgood factor?

Here’s something to dwell on: back in 2010, at the time of George Osborne’s first Budget, the Government was predicting that by this stage, midway through 2013, the economy would be almost 3% bigger than it was at the start of the economic crisis. Instead, today Britain’s

Mark Carney's joke book

One thing became clear pretty soon into Mark Carney’s big speech today: the Bank of England Governor is much better when he ad-libs than when he reads from the script. The speech was a bit dry, a touch monotonous, and full of central-bankerese; but when it came time for

Gold in the UK during WWII

[https://i0.wp.com/www.edmundconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/BoEgold.jpg?ssl=1] Love this chart from the Bank of England’s unpublished war history [http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/Pages/digitalcontent/archivedocs/warhistoryww2.aspx] . You can find it at the end of the chapter about gold