Well the post WW2 UK debt was £21 billion, and it took until 2006 until all debts had been paid off.
So, whatever the final UK debt figure that has been amassed at the end of all this, will take a long time to clear again, and I am sure we will go through a period of austerity as the British did after WW2 that I was still seeing as a child in the late 1950's, but how long it will last, who knows!
The 'national debt' will never be cleared, Lizzie, it's just a number, and it seems to bear no relation as to how a country is considered credit worthy or not. Some countries are in a better position than others. We, unlike the Eurozone, are able to print money. This usually leads to high inflation somewhere down the road, but that's a problem for another day. (Governments have been working this way for decades. The next parliament can sort it out).
Yes, very true as well
I have heard some 'financial observers' suggest that, as this debt is widespread across nations,it should just be "written off"! Now, I am no national financier, but would the stinking rich individuals / countries of the world, who are the ones at the end of this chain of debt allow this to happen?
Anyone qualified out there to answer that?
All I know in business you cannot write off customers debts without giving your company one hell of a financial problem, even annihilation in the commercial world.