WE live in curious times indeed, which by now kind of goes without saying. And we have had to get used to all sorts of utter nonsense on the political front, notably from the Tory Brexiters. However, that does not prevent some of the more bizarre manifestations of these times from generating a degree of astonishment. Specifically, it was fascinating and demoralising to watch sterling's reaction to the ebb and flow of the various opinion polls ahead of the General Election.
The pound has tended in recent weeks to rise on the back of poll results indicating a clear majority for the Conservatives under Boris Johnson.
In contrast, polls pointing to a tighter result have dampened the pound, as has been seen at certain points this week.
Financial market players' enthusiasm for a Conservative victory might be something of a historical fact but, in the current set of circumstances, it is surely nothing short of remarkable. After all, the Tories have presided over an extraordinary economic shambles for nearly a decade now.
Their savage austerity programme, as well as damaging society, has choked off economic growth, taking large amounts of money from millions of people on low incomes who have to spend all that they have to live. That these ill-judged and morally repugnant measures would bear down on growth was always a matter of simple economic arithmetic, taking away from aggregate consumer demand. Sadly, the Tories either could not or chose not to grasp this simple arithmetic.
Not only that, but the Conservatives have turned a grim situation brought about by their huge and protracted austerity error into a total circus as they have managed to bring UK economic growth shuddering to a complete halt with their Brexit odyssey.
The Tories have triggered
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