A mug's game
THE STRONG pound has been mugged. Only a chalk outline on the pavement and an ugly splotch or two still show where it stood and where it fell. This will come as a shock to the Confederation of British Indus- try and the Trades Union Congress, who must now find something else to grumble at. They can hardly complain of being pounded when the pound has lost 8 per cent of its value in four months, and has not been so cheap against the dollar for 15 years. The euro is weaker still, but the pound is back in its old role as victim in the Cluedo game. Whodunit? The finger points to a tricky old lady, in her parlour in Threadneedle Street, with a stiletto wrapped up in statistical ver- biage. The pound is supposed to be her best friend, but she has taken to creeping up behind it, apparently trying to push it down- stairs, and certainly doing nothing to keep it alive. Her motives are a matter for conjec- ture, but perhaps she would like to see it converge with the euro, or perhaps she just wants to shut the CBI and TUC up. Either way, this is a dangerous game for her to play. She should have learnt by now that the prob- lems of a strong pound are nothing to the problems of a weak one.
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