A faulty assessment

Alistair Darling, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, has caused a stir with his outspoken statement that the economic prospects for the UK now look worse than they have for 60 years. The Financial Times contradicts him in a commentary: "His precise meaning has been in dispute but it would certainly be nonsense to suggest the UK faces the worst downturn in six decades. It is true that in specific areas – trust among financial institutions, in particular – the UK is in very bad shape by historical standards. But, more generally, the assertion is untrue. A single quarter without economic growth is not a catastrophe. Unemployment and inflation are both still low. Coping with the slowdown may well mean breaking the fiscal rules. But so be it. There is no prospect of needing to move to a three-day working week or to seek a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund. These are not desperate times; desperate measures are not required. ... The UK's economic circumstances are by no means the worst in 60 years."

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