A 'Bank Holiday' When National Debt Doubles in a Decade
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS, UK)
Today we have two major things happening - the heatwave and the extended weekend [1, 2]. Manchester United celebrated a good season (comeback), good final match, and new head coach. But those footballers are mostly not from here, their obscene salaries aren't benefiting the economy, and they're mostly a distraction from austerity-like program cuts and political turmoil (it'll get worse with the oil shortages and other factors that increase costs).
Despite fast-rising food prices the grocers are having a hard time. This was a few days ago:
Customers are racing for cheaper options, sometimes out of basic necessity; nourishing oneself isn't optional, but people can control the budget associated with that.
In more recent years we fell in love with nature and we do more to help wildlife find food. The climate changes are lethal to them. Like many others, we believe the world is overpopulated (has been for decades if not centuries) and we have a category for this topic in Daily Links. The same goes for finance, as in places like Turkey there's financial crisis/panic with soaring inflation rates (sometimes as high as 50% in some cities). From the Daily Links posted an hour ago:
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BIA Net ☛ 2026-05-12 Pensioner poverty in Turkey: 9 out of 10 say need to work to stay afloat
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BIA Net ☛ 2026-05-13 Turkey posts highest current account deficit in three years in March
This speaks of Turkey, but the same is true in many other countries, where pension payments aren't keeping up with rising costs and many are forced to work in their 70s and until their dying day. Likewise, in the US for example, the personal debt crisis (people failing to keep up with payments) is now at its worst level since the Great Depression - that's highest in almost a century.
That we devote a holiday to banks seems odd and misguided. By lending too much money (even to people who SLAPP us and cannot afford to pay their lawyers in another continent) they are not solving the problem, they just kick the can down the road, metaphorically speaking. This means that the collective shock will be greater.
Maybe it's time to rename "Bank Holidays". █
Image source: Bank Holiday