one of the most galling facts in the new book is that, whereas in 1997 manufacturing output was 8% higher than in 1974, by 2009 it was 2.7% lower. Britain was further from Hutton\’s vision of a balanced economy at the end of the Labour years than it was at the end of the Tory ones. So much for the idea it was Thatcher who smashed British industry.
Ooooh, yes, why don\’t we do out comparisons from the very tippy toppy of the Barber Boom to the depths of the biggest recession since the 1930s?
You can see the numbers here, or this graph of more recent times here.
Confusing cyclical variations with structural changes was one of the things that they taught me, when I was at the LSE, to avoid.
Lord alone knows why you as a Governor of the place think you can get away with such manipulation.