THERE has been dreadful, even frightening, economic news this week. The average household will face an energy bill of £3,500-a-year in October, and that is set to rise further in the Spring.

Inflation is now expected to peak at 13 per cent, with a recession dragging on into 2025, and so yesterday the Bank of England announced the biggest rise in interest rates for 27 years. This is to take money out of the economy, to stop people spending, in a bid to control inflation.

However, few people are spending at the moment. TVs and cars aren’t leaving the shops because no one has any money – it has all gone on our energy bills. So is the Bank of England’s approach right?

And if it is right, why are the two Conservative contenders, especially Liz Truss, determined to do the opposite and pump money into the economy just when the Bank is taking money out? None of it makes much sense.

But our Prime Minister has gone part time and our chancellor is a bystander as the Tories career around the country. Who’s running the Foreign Office while Ms Truss is on tour – it is a good thing there’s nothing major happening in the world, like China and America about to come to nuclear blows over Taiwan.

We are in a pickle, our politicians are absent and the ordinary people should feel extremely worried at the bills about to hit them. This is no way to run a country.