Edmund Conway

George Osborne may have a tough lot as Chancellor, but he can at least count himself luckier than his Conservative predecessors from the 90s. Like him, they faced a double dip recession that was originally reported at the time, but was revised away later. Unlike him, they had to wait

There’s one important chart that overhangs today’s Spending Round – but don’t expect to find it in anywhere in the official documents [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209036/spending-round-2013-complete.pdf] . It is this one, showing the extent to which welfare and health

[https://i1.wp.com/www.edmundconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/historicalgovtbondyields.jpg?ssl=1] A quite brilliant chart from the Bank of England’s latest Financial Stability Report [http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/fsr/2013/fsr33.aspx] showing interest rates for various governments around the world since

[https://i0.wp.com/www.edmundconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/comparativeprice.jpg?ssl=1] UK tobacco prices are 94% above the EU average – only Norway (170% above) and Ireland (99% above) are more expensive for smokers. Table above from Eurostat [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/

[https://i1.wp.com/www.edmundconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/negequity.jpg?ssl=1] Proportion of borrowers facing negative equity in different regions of the UK. As you can see, more than one in ten in the North West and Yorkshire & Humber currently owe more than the value

Demand for UK debt at the Government’s auctions has fallen to the lowest level for more than a decade and a half. The average number of bids for each pound of debt offered at the past three government debt auctions averaged out at 1.43 – the lowest so-called bid-to-cover