Last weekend and before that, we traded Greece (PIIGS) bond spread for Euro weakness. When not dealing with the debt overhang + no growth, there is no chance of stabilising the situation anytime soon 

Gordon Brown talking about Conservative implementing budget cuts within 50-days after the election in case they win.

I just want to remind everyone. Budget cuts within the next 9 months will be inevitable, whether you vote Labour, Conservative or Lib Dems. The markets will force it upon this nation.

As we have learned during this brief time of financial upheaval, things usually get worse till they get better.

What Brown said is lie. He is misleading the public. He still is Prime Minister, and saying such things is pure manipulative of the public, misleading, a lie.

Bond fund managers have called for steep cuts in welfare spending by highly indebted European countries to avoid a repeat of the Greek crisis. Spain, Portugal and Ireland have already been targeted by speculators. Some economists have included Britain and Italy in the European “circle of doom” countries that ring the more financially secure nations of France and Germany.

Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said Britain was unlikely to come under the same pressure as Greece, Spain and Portugal because it was able to devalue its currency and trade its way out of recession. Britain remains the world’s sixth-largest exporter in the world. Sterling has fallen from $2 before the crisis to $1.70 early this year to $1.50 last week, giving exporters a boost as prices of their goods fall. (via Guardian May 3rd 2010)

And giving consumer a hard time on the till, especially petrol (oil), gas, travel tickets. As a world deeply intertwined, the weakness of the pound will push up the CPI and RPI. Inflation will remain at alleviated levels above 2 if not over 3% year over year.

Which implies with the current overall world outlook, the perspective shifts towards double-dip, all things considered.