Breaking from the pageantry of the Queen’s Speech and arguments over who-said-what to Sir Christopher Kelly, new public sector borrowing figures were announced for the month of October. They’re appalling: the worst for a single month since records began in 1946. The government was forced to borrow £11.4 billion in October to meet its bills. By comparison, In October 2008 they borrowed “just” £100 million. Britain has the worst public sector deficit of any OECD nation.

All of this once again highlights the fantasy that is the government’s Queen’s Speech proposals for more spending on care for the elderly, graduate training and international development. Like over-indulgent parents, this government is incapable of saying no to any spending proposal. Sadly, they're probably right in calculating that most people won’t spot this contradiction and will just think we can carry on as per the last decade.

How long will the bond market tolerate this?