Black hole is small beer

I’m not quite sure what a black hole means to a politician but the £22 billion black hole which the government is banging on about doesn’t really seem very significant.

After all it is about the same amount as the price of a leading-edge fab, or two thirds of TSMC’s 2024 capex budget.

If a private company can afford that, surely a major country shouldn’t be too fussed about it.

Look at it another way – the UK has a £3 trillion economy and 22 billion is 0.73% of 3 trillion.

If a black hole means a gap between income and expenditure then, personally, I would not be over-vexed by 0.73% black hole in my personal annual budget.

So it’s puzzling that the government is making such a fuss about it and even more puzzling that people don’t point out that it is pretty small beer in the great scheme of things.