Its looking more and more every day like one of those farces that were popular on stage in the 60’s/70’s if you wanted a good laugh. The old saying you don’t know your arm from your elbow rings true with this pair of good for nothing idiots.
Andrew Bailey flagging up in advance that the BoE is not going to continue propping up the bond market - expect a stormy time for the pension funds.
Given that most Tory voters are either pensioners or soon to be pensioners, excpect a stormy time for Truss as a result.
As they (nearly) said in 1914 - she’ll be out by Christmas.
But who will replace them?
Labour, hopefully
This seems to be @Corona’s view (in the ‘sterling’ thread) too - but how do you see it actually happening? Yet another Tory leadership election? - while the chaos continues?
If Truss and Kwarteng are simply forced to resign the deputy PM would surely take over, at least temporarily. Thérèse Coffey…
General election during a sterling crisis?
Commentary
TBH not sure and it’s a point that I often make myself - losing a vote of confidence in the house is unlikely as the Tories will close ranks even in their present disarray.
Riots?
ahhh Brian Rix farces… ![]()
The consensus amongst the political pundits appears to be - let them continue to make a mess of things. If there was an election now and Labour were to win it (as expected) they would be faced with putting things right that currently are almost unfixable… best let them implode more than they have already which would make any future attempts by them to blame the whole mess on Labour would fail even more spectacularly than now.
Bit harsh on people in the meantime perhaps - but they voted this bunch of miserable idiots in from the off so should also take some responsibility for the mess - no pain, no gain as they say.
Revolution!!!
At least they wouldn’t be able to more harm if distracted by another leadership election.
However, they are already at the bottom of the barrel - one hesitates to contemplate who might emerge as leader on the grounds that all possibilities are too horrendous.
Labour told to get into GE mode and maybe a vote of no confidence? After all the treasury have unprecidenty stepped in twice and Kwasi has plans for tax cuts but no notification on where he will pay for these. Total bloody shambles.
The slight problem with that being that more people voted against the Tories, than voted for them at the last election - so for the sake of the 40% of the electorate who were idiots we all have to suffer.
Great link Billy - but very, very worrying…
indeed… but the time during which people will remember will endure longer once they are out of office as a consequence…
40% of those that voted - only about 25% of people in the UK.
And an even smaller percentage of the population.
Well pension funds that are exposed probably made decisions they shouldn’t have - I’ve bern reading up industry stuff on this to the extent I’ve had time.
Of course risk can’t realistically be totally hedged even if foreseen. But given the long horizons pension funds operate in, it seems the problem is short-term liquidity for some pension funds(ie need to keep acess to cash to keep paying immediately due pensions).
The rapid rise in interest rates has caused margin calls from banks guaranteeing that cash against security - as if interest rates go up then the security pension funds lodged with the bank to guarantee that cash, becomes worth less. So the banks are enforcing clauses to require the pension funds to deposit more security with them now.
Funds have historically been heavily invested in bonds and gilts, and IMV overinvested, hence their current exposure. If pension funds don’t crystallise the current lower valuations, ie keep liquidity so they don’t have to cash them in at current low values due to current high interest rates, they should be OK.
For the funds it’s likely to be a temporary cyclical issue. For pensioners and to-be-pensioners on the other hand, the £ getting st*ffed and interest rates remaining higher for a time is likely to do people far more lasting damage than the pension funds.
The Pension Regulator’s warning just issued to funds about 3 days to sort out their liquidity following the Bank of England’s statement that the BoE plans to keep buying gilts in the market (ie print money to buy the government’s own bonds (gilts) so the price in the market for gilts doesn’t drop further) only till Friday 14th October, has some very telling text that basically reminds pension funds of the bases they should have been covering.
PS Kami Kwazi has now been forced to bring forward his next ‘fiscal statement’ to much sooner now. This is when he’s supposed to tell us how his budget will be financed ie where the money is coming from. Unfortunately the date is now 31st October.
Trick or treat? 
Damn. Graham beat me to it. When I think 60s/70s farce, I immediately think of Brian Rix and Terry Thomas. I’m a bit young to have appreciated them in the 60s, but they were oft repeated later on, when I could.
Its more of a fiscal one liner, doesnt bother to explain the workings and hence the UK suffers again. Most pension funds used to find safety from real market exposure in the bonds and gilts markets after growth periods now we have volatility everywhere its not good if you are aproaching retirement in the next few years for money purchase schemes.