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During a 40 year career (when he was trained to use simple language, avoiding jargon), our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, has always known that complicated issues must be made easy to understand yet could be HUGELY important, and this is now underlined by new revelations about the finances of economies.
Earlier Phil has described how he was helped to break into the South Wales Echo office car when he was a cub reporter, recalled his early career as a journalist, the importance of experience in the job, and making clear that the‘calls’ to emergency services as well as court cases are central to any media operation.
Phil has explained too how crucial it is actually to speak to people, the virtue of speed as well as accuracy, why knowledge of history and teaching the subject is vital, how certain material was removed from TV Current Affairs programmes when secret cameras had to be used, and some of those he has interviewed.
He has disclosed as well why investigative journalism is needed now more than ever although others have different opinions, how the coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown played havoc with media schedules, and the importance of the hugely lower average age of some political leaders compared with when he started reporting.
People’s eyes tend to glaze over when they hear them, but they shouldn’t because these issues affect them and their families.
A key example of this is the finances of countries.
It is actually a HUGELY important issue and influences daily life, but anyone who reads or hears the figures is immediately bored by them, so moves on to ‘news’ about ‘celebrities’, or what is happening in the soaps.
That’s a shame because they bear scrutiny.
It is difficult to break down the finances of Wales, because the country is of course part of the UK.
The most you get, really, is blandishments from the Welsh Government (WG) about how good things are, such as: “Wales’ economy is putting down strong foundations for the future: with a spirit of entrepreneurship; an emphasis on new industries; a skilled, talented workforce; and innovative approaches to the challenges of our day”.
This is COMPLETELY meaningless twaddle, which contains no facts whatsoever, so let’s look at the UK picture.
Relative to its peers the finances of the UK are in FAIRLY good shape (I say this guardedly, aware of the abuse I will get online).
The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was recently given a financial boost when official future borrowing figures came in lower than expected.
- The UK Government gross debt was £2,537.0 billion at the end of Quarter One (Q1) (January to March) this year – equivalent to 100.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- The UK Government deficit (or net borrowing) was £24.4 billion in Quarter One (Q1) 2023, equivalent to 3.8 per cent of GDP.
Yesterday’s unsurprising news that interest rates were to be held at 5.25 per cent, also meant the UK Government was fortunate, because borrowing costs fell sharply.
But investors still bought up longer-dated bonds, known as gilts, pushing down the yield on 10 year and 30 year bonds by 0.1 percentage points, the lowest in three weeks. The pound rallied against the dollar, gaining 0.23 per cent to $1.21.
In other countries in Europe the situation is FAR worse!
For example, there is Italy, where international investors demand a lot of money to lend to it.
Investors will currently lend to Italy (in bonds) at an annual rate of around two percentage points more than they do to Germany.
Even THAT does not reflect their optimism – rather it is because the European Central Bank (ECB) has indicated it is on hand to snap up Italian bonds if other investors will not.
The plain fact is that Italy’s huge debt is a looming problem.
The nominal interest rate it pays on new debt of around five per cent is up from one per cent about two years ago and the highest for a decade.
As its borrowings are gradually refinanced at this level it will cost Italy a mint, worsening its debt position (though still-high inflation could help bring down the real cost).
Other countries have similar headaches.
Balanced budgets in France are something that is endlessly talked about but seldom indulged in (its last surplus was in 1974).
Attempts to put up the pension age there by just two years (the current system is unaffordable), brought people out on to the streets!
Protests began in January with a demonstration of over one million people nationwide, organised by opponents of the pension reform bill which contained proposals to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.
These sort of figures MATTER.
Eyes shouldn’t glaze over!
Details of Phil’s astonishing decades-long journalistic career (when he always tried to simplify complicated issues), as he was gripped by the incurable neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in an important book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now.
Regrettably publication of another book, however, was refused, because it was to have included names.
