No Grit for the Oyster

No war plan ever survived the first hour of battle, according to Clausewitz. So where was he when you needed him?

The current situation serves to demonstrate how weak our politicians are at handling complex and overlapping issues. To which can now be added problems with forecasting.

Not down to us says the Met Office. All UK contingency planning is based on our five-day forecasts, “which are massively reliable.” Just so. And after that? With increasing regulatory demands ... careful about clearing your own pathway ... and political interference in energy supply, UK systems appear to be suffering from short term vision and a failure to achieve long term infrastructure improvement.

Easing our way out of a crisis?

Funny how some situations often have a buzz phrase attached. "Book him, Dano", from Hawaii 5-0; or "You're nicked", from The Sweeney; or "Loadsamoney", courtesy of Harry Enfield. Which brings us neatly to financial crises which have generated their own vocabulary. The pound in your pocket; subprime loans; crisis? what crisis; and now, step forward quantitative easing ... a buzz phrase you will be hearing more of in the future.

It's jargon for printing our way out of the current credit crunch. Like the Weimar Republic and Mr Mugabe why not just print more money and all will be well. Watch out, too, for the concept of the "bad bank" ... something being seriously considered. Basically a state bank would be set up where all those so-called toxic loans could be parked out of harm's way ... and then covered by the taxpayer.