Why Rachel Reeves is an economist and I am not

My formal training in Economics is limited to a one year course in my undergraduate degree, admittedly a very comprehensive one,   I later had the good fortune to teach a module on the Making of Economic Policy with the late, great Nick Crafts who courteously pronounced me 'economically literate'.   My economics education was rounded off my teaching a third year PPE economic and political theory module with Ben Lockwood.  So I picked up a lot of economics on the hoof, so to speak.   But I wouldn't call myself an economist.

Rachel Reeves holds an upper second in PPE from Oxford.   She also holds a MSc in Economics with merit from LSE, not an easy programme I am told by people there.   For me, that is enough to count as an economist, leaving aside time working at the Bank of England.   At least she didn't leave a conviction for assault off her cv.

A lot of complaints directed against the Budget have come from the hospitality industry.   However, if the town in which I live is any way typical we have seen a proliferation of coffee shops, cafés and gastro pubs.  Rather than viable businesses being threatened, it seems to me that we have a structural overcapacity problem.

The more general issue here is the right-wing backlash against the Labour Government, culminating in a ludicrous petition for a general election instigated by the very people who defended the narrow majority for Brexit.  Indeed, a petition calling for a second referendum that was signed by four million was ignored (not that I signed it personally).

One would expect distortion from the right-wing tabloid press, but their audience is ageing and declining. Sky's criticisms are perhaps predictable.   More concerning is the BBC's stance which, as personified by 'Tory Laura', thinks that 14 years of accumulated problems can be solved in four months.  The dispute over APR has been illustrated by sentimental interviews with farmers (I have an outstanding complaint against BBC Radio 4).  Even more disturbing are the pronouncements of 'co-president' Musk who uses his social media platform to demand the resignation of the British prime minister.

When I was young I held to the naive view that politics offered the possibility to make things better, provided issues were debated and policies backed by evidence.   Unfortunately, I seem to be handing over a much more sinister world to my gteat-granddaughter.