The Multiplier Is The Magic Word, Bond Yields Are Just Moods
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat file this dispatch from the British political menagerie.
The Left-Keynesian believes there is no problem so deep it cannot be solved by spending more money, ideally borrowed at low rates, ideally last week, ideally before the OBR notices. Editor Alan Nafzger of the Editor’s Desk at prat.uk presents the field guide, with help from Britannica on Keynesian economics and the Bank of England.
Twenty Tells: Spotting The Left-Keynesian Interventionist On A British High Street
- Maintains a soft spot for the multiplier and a hard spot for monetarism.
- Refers to the bond market the way one refers to in-laws.
- Holds any recession can be ended by a really enthusiastic Spring Statement.
- Has explained public debt is fine, given the right narrator.
- Treats Treasury orthodoxy as a quaint hobby of sad men.
- Refers to fiscal stimulus the way other people refer to a hot bath.
- Maintains a chart titled GDP responding to feelings.
- Holds the cure for unemployment is a really busy state.
- Refers to austerity as the long, slow national mistake.
- Has explained Keynes also thought you should be allowed a coat.
- Treats a balanced budget as a kind of moral cowardice.
- Refers to bond yields as moods.
- Holds the Bank of England should be reminded who is in charge, gently, on a postcard.
- Maintains a fantasy in which his economics correspondent listens.
- Treats OBR forecasts as a useful starting point for an argument.
- Refers to investment as the magic word.
- Has explained infrastructure is romantic, especially the unsexy bits.
- Holds the best stimulus is the one paid out in cash by Tuesday.
- Refers to the IMF as the finger-wagging uncle.
- Treats any economy with low inflation and high unemployment as a personal insult.
Editor’s Note
If any of this rings a bell, you have either been to a Saturday CLP meeting, a Reform UK rally in a leisure centre, or both. More dispatches at govna.uk and the parent site prat.uk. For a second opinion that is also wrong, see The Poke.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/category/politics/
Cyndi Himmelstiere is a satirical journalist at Prat.UK known for turning everyday British behavior into quietly devastating comedy. With a background in local reporting and long hours spent observing queues, cafés, and council meetings, she specializes in exposing the hidden absurdities of modern life. Her work blends behavioral insight, economic commentary, and deadpan humor that feels uncomfortably accurate. Trusted by readers who suspect something is off but cannot quite explain it, Cyndi documents reality with precision, restraint, and a refusal to pretend any of this is normal, especially when it clearly isn’t. She is the author of Could Modern Doctors Have Saved History’s Greats?
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