Denis Healey wrote in his diary in 1976: “Beautiful day, sterling going down.” Appreciation of autumn sunshine was the right sense of priorities for a chancellor amid a currency crisis. If markets are nervous for sound fundamental reasons, there’s little in the short term that policymakers can do about it. On the contrary, where a government wades into monetary policy without thought, it risks aggravating a loss of market confidence. That’s what Theresa May did last week as the pound reached a 31-year low against the dollar. In her closing speech to the Conservative conference, the prime minister suggested that…

Source: The Times October 10, 2016 15:56 UTC