Britain: Suffering

Seven times since World War II Britain has deliberately throttled its seesaw economy to battle inflation or defend the pound. In the 14 months since Prime Minister Harold Wilson intro- duced the severest repression of all, the country has stumbled into an agonizing business slump. The self-inflicted wounds increasingly have fired acrimonious debate over what the London Times calls "the new theory of nobility through suffering."

Industrial profits fell sharply last year —by one count more than in any other major manufacturing country—as the economy's growth rate sagged to a mere 1½% (after...