Britain: The Agony of the Pound

(See Cover) It was 9:33 p.m. on a cold and foggy Saturday in Britain when the word first came. Much of the country was sprawled in stuffed chairs watching an old Doris Day movie (Midnight Lace) on the BBC. First there was a fragmentary bulletin that broke into the movie, then a delay in the scheduled 10:25 news while scriptwriters scram bled to get together details. In millions of living rooms up and down the length of Britain, people watched transfixed while a gay Latin American dance rhythm blared from the box,...