Even the BBC’s Business Editor struggles to explain the deficit

With austerity so last election, voters no longer seem too fussed by the deficit. It may be that they no longer think it’s a problem, with polls showing that the average voter thinks that debt is going down. Why? Because they keep being given that impression by broadcasters who talk about ‘deficit reduction’ while wrongly thinking that people know what this means. ‘Deficit’ is a Westminster wonk word, used nowhere outside of politics. Reducing the deficit means cutting down the annual government overspend, but you won’t hear the state-funded BBC using phrases like that. The BBC might be state-financed but this is not a conspiracy. The greater scandal is how few of BBC journalists can explain what ‘deficit’ means – even those at the top.

Mr S was curious to hear Simon Jack, the actual Business Editor of the BBC, attempt to tackle the topic as he presented a report on the 8.10 a.m.