Remember in the shit old days when John Major, that vindictive streak of shit, had a bit of a crisis with the ERM back in '92. Remember all that bollocks about not joining the Euro and all that 'Save our Pound' vomit? Well, it looks as if the euro is going to become a fait accompli in Blighty if things carry on as they have been doing of late.
I must say, in my economics classes here in Lille, we've been focusing a lot on the 'demise' of the dollar and I hadn't really seen the pound side of things. Plus what with not having been back since, er, 2006 it never occured to me that the pound in my brother's pocket had shrunk by 25% in nine months or so. If you look at the chart, the plunge started pretty much at the same time as the Northern Wreck fiasco, but has picked up pace in the last week. The quid has now reached its lowest level against the European currency and one Johnny foreigner coin will now cost a whopping 80p. Good news for European tourists bound for sunny Southport and Costa del Blackpool, fish and chip exporters and canny investors with assets marked in Euros but bad news for just about everyone else concerned. Especially Gordon Brown and that rancid Darling (surely a caricature of a more serious politician somewhere?). Imports will go up in price and so will the cost of fuel. Traders have already factored in an interest rate cut tomorrow and a further fall seems likely. Something somewhere has got to give. As Mutley said "Gimme Gimme Gimme!!"
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