The plight of Woolworths has called to mind an incident from my childhood that I would love to solve.

The mystery arose as a result of the number of friends and work colleagues who related to me assorted memories of Woolies from their past.
 
One upright citizen admitted in the distant past pinching penny (and that would be a pre-decimalisation penny) ‘chews’ from the sweet counter of his local store.

Another said Woolies introduced her to the world of employment with her first Saturday job. A third remembered thinking that the toy counter was the closest thing to heaven on earth.
 
All were united in talking fondly of the store and being saddened by its problems that have seen administrators being appointed this week.
 
Well, I remember wanting to buy my parents a record – that would have been a 78rpm single back then. It might have been one or other’s birthday or Christmas. I knew that they liked the song ‘Granada’ – you know the one that goes “Granada, I'm falling under your spell…”
 
I would have been old enough to go shopping

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Certainly they are getting time in the international spotlight although very little is achieved for all their huffing and puffing.
 
But David Cameron and George Osborne do seem to be making heavy weather of getting their message across on taxation and borrowing policy. Perhaps we’ll get a better idea of where they stand in the days following the Pre-Budget Report.
 
I do know, however, that even the most superficial examination of Labour’s record in Government shatters any pretensions it has towards economic competence.
 
This inconvenient truth was brought home in comments this week from Andrew Goodwin, economic advisor to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club, which uses the Treasury’s own economic model to arrive at its conclusions.
 
This is his take on the “shocking state of the public finances, with borrowing rising alarmingly.”
 
He writes, ”Though the government is likely to announce a package of tax cuts in the Pre-Budget Report, higher taxes and/or lower government spending are certain once the economy has been restored to health.”

Had the gov

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In a single week we’ve seen Barack Obama win the race to the White House and the Bank of England throw caution to the winds with an unprecedented 1.5 per cent cut in UK interest rates by its Monetary Policy Committee.

In a way the two events are linked.

Republican candidate John McCain had his nose in front until it was impossible for him to maintain any longer that the worst of the global banking crisis was over. It was at that point his Democrat rival began to pull ahead.

The Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King has likewise been forced to make public reassessments of the gravity of the credit crunch.

Now it is recession which threatens the UK and not inflation as he was continually warned by his own MPC member super-dove David Blanchflower and the Daily Express among others.

His conversion is welcome however late in coming. More interest rate cuts are in the pipeline and hopefully the Government will do the necessary arm-twisting to make certain that the high street banks pass on the benefit of lower rates to their custome

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I’ve always considered that a strong currency is a badge of a country’s economic wellbeing – cheap foreign holidays being a nice bonus.
 
I don’t make a habit of quoting Shadow Chancellor George Osborne but he was spot on when he berated the Government for overseeing a 25 per cent depreciation in the value of sterling over the last year.

It outstrips the devaluations under Jim Callaghan and Harold Wilson. The fall is even larger than the 18 per cent  in the year after Black Wednesday in 1992 when the Tories were in office.
 
As Osborne said on Friday as the pound plunged: “Devaluation is a new Labour record...It's a sign that international investors think Britain is badly prepared, as boom turns to bust."
 
The pound’s weakness reflects concern that Alistair Darling is going to have to borrow heavily to plug the holes in the economy as they appear when the recession really starts to bite.
 
Piers Cracknell, commercial director at currency specialist Moneycorp was worried about the effect of what he called the “lame-duck pound” on the cost of imports into the UK.
 

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It provided much needed light relief that I am happy to share with you.

Comfort eating is alive and well and prospering in the Square Mile. I don’t know if you have any special foods you turn to when life gets you down but for City folk it looks like it’s a plate of bangers and mash.

Contrary to the myth heavy lunchtime drinking at lunchtime is frowned on in the City but solid meals bring solace for those that can get away from their dealing desks.

The email related how London restaurateur Herbert Berger, chef patron of City restaurant 1 Lombard Street - sited directly opposite the Bank of England - had compared current customer orders to those of 2007.

He noticed a substantial increase in requests for hearty plates of food that would sooth even the most troubled financial souls.

Bangers and mash, braised and stewed meat dishes

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