Why only hearing half the story is truly bad news

David Shepherd  |  Comment
Date posted:  26 Feb 2025
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Why only hearing half the story is truly bad news

My friend Jim, a small business owner, called me in a state of complete despair. He told me that he had heard terrible news about the UK economy and was ready to ‘throw in the towel’.

In the ‘catch-up’ TV link that he sent to me, the newscaster explained: ‘for the average bad debt for UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is £16,641, which is a 61% increase from 2022. Also, around a third of SMEs have debt levels more than ten times their cash balances.’

Given Jim’s history of struggling with business debt, his response to that news was completely understandable. However, the fact that the statement began with the preposition ‘for’ suggested to me that he wasn’t hearing the whole story.

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