Has the UK population lost touch with economic reality? It seems that people just no longer believe what the numbers are telling them. They just cannot face up to the UK’s economic problems. Symptomatic of this is the apparent feeling of entitlement to pay rises that has become a national disease. Strikes are planned in various sectors despite the terrible state of the country’s finances. The Telegraph reports today that:

Sir Howard Davies, now Director of the London School of Economics, said Britain faces a dangerous rise in the levels of public debt – even taking into account tax increases planned for coming years.

“The next six months are going to be extremely delicate in the UK”, he told a gathering of HSBC clients in London. “It is very clear that something dramatic has to happen to control spending: but is the economy robust enough to survive fiscal tightening?”

The Government is already running out of weapons to fight the crisis. While the fall in the pound has helped boost exports and proved benign so far, Sir Howard said that past experience handling sterling crises had taught him that the matters can turn ugly fast once confidence is lost. “The pound never stops where you want it to,” he said.

What is disturbing is that the British people seem unwilling to face minimal belt-tightening. Even professors in higher education are balloting to strike, demanding a continuation of boom-time pay raises. “You have the best minds in the country planning to go on strike for 8pc. People are miles away from understanding what is needed.”

When the general public sees headlines of record bonuses for bankers, there’s little wonder about the major disconnect with reality that the rest of the population faces.