Talk:Black Wednesday

Reference to Nigel Lawson's Euroscepticism
I removed the reference to Lawson being a Eurosceptic "whilst" admiring Germany's inflation record as admiration for another country's monetary policy and disapproving of European Integration are not mutually exclusive. **Insert Signature Here**

Estimated cost
Which treasury concluded that cost was £3.4 billion; the labour or the conservative one? Can there be a bias in whatever govt makes this figure? --82.153.98.248 (talk) 21:18, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

The article on the Exchange Rate Mechanism states that the "estimated cost" was £6 billion. Which is the correct number? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.218.93.208 (talk) 16:37, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Clarification?
"Prime Minister Major ... authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets."

Isn't sterling the name of the UK currency and pound is one of the units? How does UK buy sterling with pound?

Eurosceptic Parlance
"...Black Wednesday (or 'White Wednesday' in euro-sceptic parlance)..."

I'm curious, is the term 'white Wednesday' in wide enough use to merit a mention in the opening line of the article? Should it be moved further down the article, if not moved entirely? Jamestplunkett 21:55, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Need for update
"Most notably George Soros who earned over $1 billion in doing so. The event is estimated to have cost the people of Britain £4 billion in reserves, spent trying to prop up the pound." This could use some more accurate explanation and data. - Jerryseinfeld 20:44, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)

"Speculators borrowed pounds and lire and sold them for DM, in the expectation of being able to repay the loan in devalued currency and to pocket the difference." added.

Conflict with another incident
There was an incedent at Apple Computer that was called Black Wednesday. There is no article on it. I propose that the current Black Wednesday article be preserved and another one Black Wednesday (Apple Computer)

reputation of the conservatives...
"However, the reputation of the Conservatives for competent handling of the economy was shattered."

was that not already ruined in the 1980s?

Opinion polls consistently rated the Conservatives as more competent to run the economy (it was a major factor in their election victories up to and including 1992) until Black Wednesday.

Article needs to be separated
This article is about one specific event in British history - surely a separate disambig page is needed? SatuSuro 12:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

POV / Original Research
Footnote 1 : ''This is a matter of some debate. Former Prime Minister Edward Heath referred to this as a "one club golf" policy. Interest rates are a blunt instrument that affects all aspects of the economy equally. They should be supplemented by selective fiscal policies. However, to do so was contrary to the prevailing monetarist views at the time.''

If it's a "matter of some debate", is it appropriate for an encyclopedia to use such a prescriptive words as "should" and "hence"? Particularly without sourcing the note? JiHymas@himivest.com 01:04, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

The carry trade
The article currently states: The ensuing devaluation resulted to a major transfer of wealth from the government (whose foreign currency reserves which it had to sell would have gained in value) to the carry traders (who additionally to the interest rate differential between the pound and the DM also gained from the devaluation of their borrowing).

According to the Bundesbank's time series ST0101: Money market rates reported by Frankfurt banks / Overnight money / Daily quotations, overnight rates in Germany never exceeded 9.73. Meanwhile, according to the Bank of England, the Daily sterling overnight interbank average lending rate was never less than 10%. The article implies borrowing was in pounds. As UK interest rates were at all times higher that those in Germany, this would not make a profitable carry trade. Unless a reference or explanation is provided, I will delete this claim. - Crosbiesmith 09:10, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I have removed that passage for the time being. - Crosbiesmith 19:16, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry for my late answer, I was busy and haven't logged in to Wikipedia for quite a while. It was me who added the carry trade claim, as I heard the story from a professor of mine in that way. I checked the rate histories too, and it seems that the interest rates in Germany were higher neither in nominal nor in real terms (as inflation was higher in Germany at the time as well). So I must admit that I was in error claiming it as a profitable carry trade as well. -- Marcika 14:43, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

The Article seem to underplay the involvment of George Soros on Black Wednesday.
There needs to be more details of Soros hand in Black Wednesday. Until then the article is incomplete.--Redblossom (talk) 19:05, 12 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree.Historian932 (talk) 21:19, 19 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Also I agree. Urbanus Secundus (talk) 21:06, 11 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Thirded. MudskipperMarkII (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:15, 26 August 2011 (UTC).


 * I'm curious about the reference to George Soros, and why his activities are related/relevant to the article. At the moment, the brief mention seems to be something that would be better down in the body of the article, not in the opening paragraph. Could somebody please expand on why this is important --I've no doubt it is, but it's not presented in any way that makes it seem anything other than a random fact thrown in out of context. 146.129.249.2 (talk) 19:46, 16 September 2011 (UTC)


 * The activities of George Soros served to reduce the friction in the forex markets, if you will, but would have been inconsequential if the economic pressures described above had not already built up. He was pushing at an open door. There needs to be more discussion of general forex flows, not just a high-profile hedge fund.  The writing was on the wall when everyone else decided to sell - Soros was just the harbinger.

He was just one of many many currency traders that day, simply following the crowd. No more no less. Dan100 (Talk) 09:48, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Final paragraph - Tony Blair
"By the October poll, following Black Wednesday, their share of the intended vote in the poll had plunged from 43% to 29%,[10] while Labour jumped into a lead which they held almost continuously (except for several brief periods such as during the 2000 Fuel Protests) for the next 14 years, during which time they won three consecutive general elections under the leadership of Tony Blair (who became party leader in 1994 following the death of his predecessor John Smith)."

This sentence is much too long and not clear. What is the relevance of John Smith dying and Tony Blair taking over? Tony Blair did not follow John Smith as leader of the Labour Party - what about Margaret Beckett ? Whileworth (talk) 13:26, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Bank Negara involvement on the other side of the trade
Is it worth mentioning that Bank Negara was on the other side from Soros - long GBP - and lost $3.6 billion when the peg broke? (Reference - the last paragraph here) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.80.2.66 (talk) 00:04, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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Numbers, please?
This long article is extremely poor in numbers. It does not even say how much the exchange rates fell during that day. --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 12:31, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Removing Qualification Regarding Inflation Prior to 1992
In Aftermath section, second to last sentence of first paragraph:

The info in parentheses is not backed up by the source provided, nor is it backed up by real world data. Removing. Eleutheria Sleuth (talk) 17:56, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:51, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * John Major Kendall.tif

This (White Wednesday -> Black Wednesday) redirect should be removed.
It's unrelated to the market crash and the movement has nothing to do with 'black' anything. Or else we need to make every colored Wednesday redirect to this market crash. White Wednesday should have its own stub or redirect to the 'movement' page which already exists (a better idea) and the redirect should be completely removed. It's not a good habit to be whatsing and whosing on here. That isn't what this place is for. Is it? -- Unable to log in at the moment (04:45, 05 October 2019 (UTC))

Capitalisation
An anonymous editor has repeated made the following edit, which I have repeatedly reverted. to I can see no good reason to capitalise 'financial'. It is not capitalised in the article Financial crisis of 2007–2008, other than in its title. I am neutral on how we should give the date range, MOS:YEARRANGE indicates that either form is acceptable for consecutive years. Please discuss the capitalisation here or I will continue to restore the uncapitalised form. Verbcatcher (talk) 22:29, 12 October 2021 (UTC)
 * in the years prior to the financial crisis of 2007–08
 * in the years prior to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008
 * I have reverted again. If the reason for the edits is to match the title of the linked article then please see WP:NOTBROKEN. Verbcatcher (talk) 20:41, 13 October 2021 (UTC)