Across the pond, Fleet Street Daily’s Ben Traynor says the Bank of England has about as much idea as the rest of us when it comes to the current economic crisis. Worse still, Ben says embattled British prime minister Gordon Brown could do even more damage to the economy as he seeks a short-term reprieve in opinion polls by targeting major oil companies.

An important date in the City’s social calendar went almost unmarked this week. Tuesday, the Twelfth of August, marked the official start of the grouse shooting season. It’s easy to see why amid the war in Georgia, and fear of recession in Europe, people might have had other things on their minds.

For most of the last decade the government has trumpeted its economic record. Growth was steady. Prices were stable. Employment was rising. But there was a big problem. At first, the government thought it had solved it. In fact, all it did was bury the problem under a big pile of taxpayers’ money. Now the public finances are screwed up. The government can no longer afford to keep this problem under control. It’s about to hit the economy with a vengeance.

“Everything’s just so expensive!” This was from my South African friend, Alex, who was working out her household bills yesterday. She’s been in London for less than a year, and is still adjusting.

How not to solve the financial crisis. The past really is sweeping back to haunt Gordon Brown. If you wrote the film script of his career, no one would believe it – it’s far too loaded with poetic justice to be true.