The government is hiding behind the Bank of England

It is refreshing to receive, at last, some sense from an economist. Sean O’Gradys recent column was a fresh take when most other commentators are prepared to peddle the same old mantra and currently failing theory that the way to beat inflation is through interest rate increases.

The Bank of England’s aim is to reduce consumer spending through increased interest rates – a blunt and inappropriate instrument to deal with our current inflationary issues. This takes money away from many who are already facing serious financial challenges, and only succeeds in further fueling inflation through the consequent increases in housing and other costs. The result takes money from the man in the street and hands it over to the banks to boost their profits, and to reward already overpaid management. 

Surely, the same goal of reducing consumer spending can be, and indeed should be, achieved through fiscal measures decided upon by our elected government. For obvious reasons, the government prefers to hide behind an “independent Bank of England” but they should have the guts to take control. They could decide on a more equitable way of removing money from the economy such as through taxation. Consequently that tax revenue might then best be utilised to stimulate our economy and generate future growth.

Jack Foster

Chessington

I am not an economist but I do know that the current interest rate has been increased multiple times without having any desired effect. Einstein said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

If you blame inflation on wage increases you are avoiding reality. People on low wages will spend any increase in pay on essentials, boosting the economy. If the rich get more money they will put it into tax havens overseas and do nothing to stimulate growth in the country.

The government should freeze mortgage payments. There will no doubt be knock-on effects; some, such as bankers’ bonuses being scrapped, can be accepted, even welcomed. The poor are completely powerless and need help. Playing games with the bank rate is clearly doing nothing.

Robert Murray

Nottingham

For the first several years of my lengthy career criss-crossing the world’s oceans, I was employed on Liverpool-owned freighters trading between West Africa to Europe and North America. Several of those countries that I had so enjoyed visiting back then have now become engulfed in military coups, civil strife, dictatorships and rampant corruption, causing many residents to take all kinds of risks in trying to get to Europe for a better life.

These thoughts crossed my mind when recently reading about the fishing boat carrying 750 people that capsized off the coast of Greece. It was bound from Tobruk, Libya to Italy, and only about 80 asylum-seekers were rescued by the Greek Coast Guard. The others were tragically added to the many thousands who have perished making similar hazardous crossings of the Mediterranean Sea in the past few years.

And yet while these asylum-seekers were drowning with minimal attention, the world’s media was focused on the search for an unclassified experimental submarine carrying billionaires to view the wreck of the Titanic. Everybody reading this will have heard about the sad outcome of the latest Titanic misadventure, but how many will have taken note of the asylum seekers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia who perished in these other recent disasters at sea?

Bernie Smith

Parksville

I was impressed to read that Cambridge has produced technology that can pull energy from thin air and look forward to seeing this develop.

When scientific breakthroughs happen, there follows years of toil and struggle to scale them up and make them commercially viable. The urgency of the climate crisis means we don’t have years.

This technology has the potential to radically transform some of the highest emitting and hardest to decarbonise industries – steel, concrete, agriculture, batteries and transport.

In our scramble for the energy transition, we can’t rely solely on research to repair the damage we have done to the environment. We must invest in and apply existing technology that can take us a step closer to our goal.

John Hartley

Cambridge