British rescue teams are on standby, waiting for a call that may never come. The Laos cave tragedy has once again exposed the fiscal recklessness of foreign aid budgets. The first survivors were pulled out at enormous expense, and now we are expected to foot the bill for the last two missing.
The market knows a sunk cost when it sees one. Every pound spent on this operation is a pound not invested in infrastructure, education, or deficit reduction. The Bank of England must be sweating over the gilt yields.
Yet the public demands action, and politicians oblige with open chequebooks. The real question is not whether we can save them, but at what cost to the taxpayer. Market volatility is the only certainty here.
