I know that Slugger normally follows the strange old Northern Irish custom of never talking about money- ( after all we used to have a world-class crisis to talk about). But things have come to a pretty pass when it’s news when the Chancellor states the obvious about the whatyemecall it, the turn-down, credit crunch or whatever.
“We are going through a very, very difficult time,” he says in an “exclusive” interview in the Times. “You have the twin effect of the credit crunch and very high oil prices. That means the economic news is going to be difficult for quite some time.
At Christmas most people remained hopeful there would be an improvement by the autumn,” he said. “Most people would now say it’s far more profound. It’s affecting every economy and everybody. I can’t say how long it will last.”
Now there’s a scoop for you! I give it two years, myself. If you want to get down to the real meat, here’s a hot tip for the Slugger Investors’ Portfolio from the Economist, which says, basically, leap in when the FTSE all -share is above gilt yields. And look out for a single digit p/e ratio per share. The rest of you peasants who haven’t got a clue what’s going on can translate the whole thing into Irish.
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
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