Moody's Downgrades UK Bond Rating

England — it was fun while it lasted:

Moody’s has decided to downgrade the UK bond rating from Aaa to Aa1. Moody’s justification for the downgrade includes three factors, the first of which is “sluggish” growth:

1. The continuing weakness in the UK’s medium-term growth outlook, with a period of sluggish growth which Moody’s now expects will extend into the second half of the decade;

2. The challenges that subdued medium-term growth prospects pose to the government’s fiscal consolidation programme, which will now extend well into the next parliament;

3. And, as a consequence of the UK’s high and rising debt burden, a deterioration in the shock-absorption capacity of the government’s balance sheet, which is unlikely to reverse before 2016.

Meanwhile, London is undergoing some interesting reshuffling of, if not the deck chairs, then who is sitting atop of them, according to the Daily Mail, which notes that “600,000 move out in decade of ‘white flight’ from London: White Britons are now in minority in the capital:”

• Census figures show that 620,000 white Britons left the capital in a decade
• White Britons are the minority in London for the first time
• They make up 45 per cent of London’s population, with Asians being the second largest group

I’m assuming that the London Daily Mail is using the popular British euphemism of “Asian” for Muslims. In any case, here’s a link to a post from earlier this month with thoughts from Jane Kelly of the London Telegraph representing the right, and John Cleese, representing the establishment left, on why they’ve either departed London or about to, and how radically their city has been transformed over the years, leaving both feeling like “Strangers in a Strange Land: Their Own.”

Related: Bookworm offers “Kudos to George Galloway for letting the Left’s full Israel hatred show.”