Mervyn King's comments last night that Britian stands on the brink of a prolonged recession may have been the obvious to those who have been reporting on the economy for the past 12 months but not it seems to the financial markets.

The pound fell in overnight trading aginst the Dollar and kicked off when markets opened this morning.It currently stands at $1.6405 just off its lowest levels.

Shares are also falling after overnight falls in the Far East.The FTSE is currently down 1.88%

Guido is in pessimistic mood

Government borrowing is at record levels, unemployment is heading towards two million, car workers are on a 3-day week, public sector workers are threatening strikes, nationalisation is back, Deripaska-owned Leyland is even in back the news and we are entering a recession. To complete the whole 70s era feel we have a sterling collapse. 6% last night, 20% since the beginning of the year.

Black Monday?

Something that annoys me about Gordon Brown is his constant referal to Black Wednesday when baiting David Cameron

Well,much of the political blogsphere is alive with the post by Open Europe which tells us

Gordon Brown returns again and again to Black Wednesday. He is always keen to remind people of Cameron’s role in that credibility-shredding day.
As of yesterday, he might want to stop banging on about it.
As of yesterday the pound has fallen by more since the Prime Minister took office than it did on black Wednesday.

Yes the pound has fallen 14% against the euro since Gordon Brown became Pm,( it fell 12% on Black Wednesday).Unfair comparison? Perhaps but let's hope that it stops the constant referals to an event that took place 15 years ago.