Degearing

This support for Greene & Walker may stem from the duo's past experience as masters of degearing, an unusual quality in a business dominated by its hoarders.

The reduction in the interest charge from £1.64m to £1.26m in the face of an increase in the average base rate during the period from 11% to 15% reflects the recently instituted policy of degearing under which low-yielding properties are being sold.

This is the degearing effect, about which we hear so much. Can the Government guide us on what level of degearing they expect, over what timescale, and what impact they believe it will have on total lending volumes and nominal GDP?

The oil crisis of 1973 (and the 1991 Gulf War and oil crises) caused a destabilizing effect on the whole range of economic activity, bringing in its wake record interest rates, rapid inflation, particularly in construction costs, and periods during which there were falls in the standard of living of the average taxpayer. This resulted in the destructive degearing of industry in general and property owning organisations in particular.