November 19, 2019
I’m not kidding, this is what the piece said. The article was about talks by current prime minister and Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbin before the United Kingdom’s biggest business group.
The piece told readers:
“In Mr. Johnson’s speech on Monday, he promised a package of tax cuts designed to entice businesses to support his party but said a further cut to the corporation tax would be postponed. Money designated to finance that tax cut would instead be directed to the National Health Service, he said.
“‘Before you storm the stage and protest,’ Mr. Johnson said, ‘let me remind you this saves 6 million pounds that we can put into the priorities of the British people.'”
Since readers may not be immediately familiar with the importance of this 6 million pounds to people in the UK, it would have been helpful to put in a context that makes it understandable. Since a pound is worth roughly $1.25, this money would be equivalent to $7.5 million. The U.K. has a bit less than 70 million people, which means that Johnson is referring to a sum that comes to a bit more than 10 cents per person in the U.K.
The piece also refers to plans by Corbyn to nationalize the railroads and various utilities. It would have been helpful to point out that most of these businesses had previously been owned by the government. They were privatized under Margaret Thatcher.
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