British stocks and bonds look like a bargain

Putting money into an emerging market always carries a frisson of danger. Governments might make sudden, erratic decisions, sending investments plummeting. That risk also makes those assets cheaper, to draw in willing buyers. British assets, too, have started to look cheap in recent years, at least compared with those of other rich countries. Last week’s spectacle in the House of Commons, where the Labour government was cowed by its own backbenchers into withdrawing a fairly minor cut to disability benefits, then briefly pummelled by the bond market as a result, helps explain why.