Almost no interest whatsoever

The interest rate is at 1%. Nearly all the economic levers have been pulled and it'll soon be time for Driver Brown to get out of his cab, the wrecking ball having gone awry. The currency is stuffed, anyone relying on a return from savings is stuffed, even manufacturers who should be pleased with low interest rates are stuffed. Soon any lending that there is will be stuffed since there will be no retail deposits in banks or buildings societies from which to lend. It'll all be under the mattress. Confidence is shot to pieces. It hardly matters now if the rate falls to 0%, the damaging confirmation of the nation's basket-case status has been further underlined.

The other end of this particular piece of rope can be found in September 1992 when rates were at 15%. That was a manic extreme too. Normal life is in the middle somewhere. All that is needed for the hellish tableaux to be complete is the return of double-digit inflation, and increasing the supply of money should see to that. Sir Compton quite enjoyed the 1970s - plenty of drink and girls - but didn't expect to go back there.