MY NOTEBOOK

Britain is heading for a “collapse of sterling” if Gordon Brown persists with trying to borrow his way out of trouble, George Osborne says in an interview with The Times today.

Risking accusations that he is talking down the pound, the Shadow Chancellor mounts a ferocious attack on the Prime Minister, accusing him of following a deliberate “scorched-earth policy” that would leave the economy in a mess for the Tories to inherit.

Mr Osborne, ignoring the convention that senior politicians do not predict runs on the pound, says that the country knows instinctively that no government can borrow its way out of debt. He claims that the weight of debt will stifle recovery and also create a big risk for sterling.

“Sterling has devalued rapidly against the euro and the dollar. We are in danger, if the Government is not careful, of having a proper sterling collapse, a run on the pound. The danger of a run on the pound . . . is that it pushes up long-term interest rates, which is a huge burden on the economy. The more you borrow as a government the more you have to sell that debt and the less attractive your currency seems.”

Notes:

1. sterling:英国货币

2. persist with:继续努力，坚持不懈

3.accusation:谴责，指控

4.Shadow Chancellor：影子大臣

5.mount:设置，安放

6.ferocious：凶恶的，残忍的

7.accuse of:指控

8.deliberate:有预谋的

9.scorched-earth:军队撤退时销毁一切敌军可利用之物

10.Tory:保守党党员

11.inherit：继承，遗传而得

12.instinctively：本能的

13.stifle:窒息，使窒息

14.push up:增加，提高