The Guardian view on the UK economy: the foundations are looking shaky | Editorial
"Cecily, you will read your Political Economy in my absence," orders Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest. "The chapter on the Fall of the Rupee you may omit. It is somewhat too sensational."
Oscar Wilde should have stuck around to read the business pages of a recent newspaper: they make the Indian rupee look like a steel girder. Take the headlines by the close of trade in the City today. Iron ore plunges to a 10-year low. Mining giant Glencore has another shocking day on the stock market. When Wall Street opens at lunchtime, every single company on the Dow Jones slumps. Copper, that leading indicator of the state of the world economy, continues to drift lower and lower. And the cost of a barrel of Brent Crude oil has dropped so low that you can buy one, should you wish, for about the same amount as a pair of kids' roller skates.
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