Though Cowards Flinch

The dirty dealings of the international credit rating industry slipped off my radar for a couple of months –  in fact ever since the workers failed to heed my call to march on Standard & Poor’s.  I sulked for ages. 

But – to mix my shipping and military metaphors badly – credit ratings hove back into view yesterday. 

First there was Giles’s helpful update on, inter alia, the corrupt practices of Moody’s in respect of the US’s largest mortgage provider.   

Then, last night there was Iain Dale and Tory Politico suggesting that the UK’s credit rating is ‘weakening’. 

Yeah, right. 

What the Managing Director of Sovereign Risk at Moody’s, Pierre Cailleteau, actually appears to have said is that, while some Aaa countries may ‘push the boundaries’ of that rating, the UK’s position is categorised as ’resistant’ within the Aaa rating. 

This is as opposed to New Zealand, Canada, France Germany, which are ‘Aaa resilient’, and a category of ‘Aaa vulnerable’ not actually held by any country since Ireland was downgraded below Aaa in July 2009.

Yes, it would appear that being ‘resistant’ is a sign of weakness in the Tory world more commonly known as ‘desperately trying to make things look worse than they are for short-term political gain even at the expense of actual investor confidence in the UK economy’. 

Note:  Credit rating posts are like London buses. There’ll be another two along in a minute, including one long bendy one at the back.