Saturday

I feel almost sure that the entire Labour cabinet is now using precisely the same predictive technology as that of Boyd’s Own Paper. It is, as you are probably aware, a system that combines a deep-learning algorithm with our financial and mathematical modelling software, which we have christened Phyrrus Pi. The software lies at the heart of the astonishing results we have achieved and delivered over the last two to three months. But we know, if nothing else, that results aren’t everything. For example, the ability to deliver on time and consistently goes a long way toward building trust, even if the outcomes sometimes show slight fluctuations between positive and negative consequences.

Today, we discovered that there’s been yet another slowdown in private-sector activity this month, with services activity hitting a 7-month low and manufacturing output dropping to a 2-month low. S&P Global’s spokesperson said: “Economic growth has stalled, job losses have accelerated, and business confidence has deteriorated”. The GfK Consumer Confidence metric also showed that all measures of consumer confidence fell in November, a trend borne out by the latest ONS figures, which reveal that retail sales unexpectedly fell 1.1% in October. On top of that, of course, HMG borrowed £3 billion more in October than the OBR forecast.

Luckily, we know from our own research that our results are often very close to the outcome, and whilst for us coming second is not the ideal position, when we are seeking firsts, it is nowhere near as bad intellectually as coming last, last. At least many of our selections were last first, so to speak. Many of these same critical thought processes are evident in the work of David Lammy, whose confidence in dealing with a crisis is so refreshing, in an age when