Sir Mervyn King at Eton College

On a crisp Thursday in January the Epsom College Economics and Enterprise Society were incredibly privileged to hear the former governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King speak at Eton College regarding the trials and tribulations of a post credit-crunch British economy.

A bustling lecture hall listened attentively as Mr King picked apart the causes of the 2008 crisis, its effects on today's economic activity, and what the future holds for Great Britain. The former governor spoke of how the crisis was not merely the fault of one party or another, but a fault of the whole economic system we rely on. Reckless and irresponsible spending and speculation leading to worsening budget deficits, coupled with a crisis of confidence has seen the effects of the credit crunch continue even today, stagnation, and macroeconomic imbalance. With regards to crisis response, Mr King demonstrated that the UK was experiencing a paradox of policy, where short term actions differ from long term goals, the government wishes for increased wealth in the long run, but this is not possible when government spending is cut in a contractionary fiscal fashion. When queried about the future of the British economy, Sir Mervyn King concluded that “the future is uncertain”, and thus he is joined by many, who believe we are still not out of the woods yet.