Why do our news media have to be so unrelentingly pessimistic? Because bad news sells papers.
A couple of weeks ago, there was widespread reporting that the pound had “fallen to a 37-year low”. The real story was that the US dollar had risen spectacularly against the vast majority of other currencies, including Sterling. The way it was reported in British media served to unnecessarily alarm the public and create doubts about Sterling in the minds of foreign market makers.
Since then of course, our new PM and her Chancellor have done a proper job of trashing the currency by taking a radical new approach, without the track record to instill confidence in anyone. But maybe last week’s mini-budget would not have been so poorly received without the earlier negativity.