BBC NewsBorrowing was £17.4bn last month, the second highest October figure since monthly records began in 1993.
It’s almost a commonplace to say that this year represents an inflection point in world history.
If someone only with experience of life pre-Covid-19 were plucked somehow out of the slipstream of time and deposited in our virusstricken era they might not immediately notice that the world had changed utterly
But changed it has – it’s just that the scale change hasn’t yet filtered through to our collective sense of ourselves. This matters when seeking a job; how do we know how to present ourselves unless we know what employers are looking for? It also matters when running a business: amid the helter-skelter of familiarising ourselves with the furlough scheme, we might miss the wider strategic picture.
The enormity of the ructions creates difficulty for government. The tendency – surely a correct one – is to respond to immediate crises and tensions, but the necessity of doing so will inevitably leave others to simmer.
Happily, help is on the way. As we compiled our second issue, Finito World asked its respondents to pause and consider some questions about the state of play as Britain heads into the autumn. The response was exceptional – and fascinating.
