had to make do with ice on the inside of the window, boiled mutton and coach trips to the Costa del Brexit. But few things offend more than pointing out to a baby boomer just how good they’ve had it, even to the detriment of their own children. It’s only natural to respond defensively to criticism, but the truth is a better starting point for policymaking than feelings.
Rates did indeed rise above an eye-watering 15 per cent in 1981, but they did so for less than a single month , before rapidly coming back down, as soon as their disinflationary effect had manifested in the wider economy. A short, sharp peak of one, perhaps two, years of painful mortgage payments? Try an unbroken run of not one, not two, but more than 20 years of the highest house price to earnings ratioIt’s not even possible to directly compare headline rates between the decades like a game of intergenerational Top Trumps, where boomers delight in recalling numbers in the mid-high teens, certain that their card will win on interest rate hardship points.