Life on Mars

This morning’s flat January GDP data for the UK, got me thinking about Life On Mars, not the Musk‑flavoured kind of building communities on the red planet, but rather the quirky 1970s time‑warp where DI Sam Tyler wakes up in 1973, surrounded by flares, Ford Cortinas and a general sense that the economy has stepped out for a long lunch.

Sadly, it’s not nostalgia dragging me back there. It’s the uncomfortable déjà vu of an era defined by no growth, energy shocks, rising unemployment and the creeping dread of inflation with a side order of higher interest rates. Swap the sheepskin coats for spreadsheets and you’ve basically got today’s policy mix: higher taxes, more government spending… and still no meaningful growth.

It really looks like we are rewinding to the stagflation years. We need to brace ourselves for falling real incomes, squeezed living standards and a tougher landscape for investment. Sam Tyler at least got a goodish soundtrack (although I might have preferred it to be set in 1977). We’re stuck with the economic equivalent of static.