CAN it really be that, only seven years ago this month, a quarter of a million people, all dressed in white, encircled Edinburgh in the campaign to Drop the Debt of developing nations?
It seems like a different world, now that countries like Britain are drowning in their own debts – which make the debts of African countries look like small change.
While Bob Geldoff was hurling expletives at the G8, Britain was indulging in the greatest borrowing binge in history. This wasn't just government borrowing, which rose to an unsustainable £155bn per annum in 2010. The real big spenders were you and me, the householders of Britain, who embraced debt as no generation has ever done before. Household debt in Britain is now off the scale, at 150% of GDP – heading towards £2 trillion. There is no precedent for this in British economic history.
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