Jobless figures underline need for fresh rate cut

AFTER the lightning comes the storm. The blind panic which has gripped the world's financial markets over the past couple of months may be subsiding, as governments implement a £1.5 trillion rescue package.

Yet we have still to see the full impact on the real economy of the vast loss of wealth that results when share prices collapse; of the drop in house prices which has made ordinary people feel much poorer; and of the sharp reduction in credit being o...