A jubilee year is a perfect time for debt forgiveness

This year the Queen marks 70 years on the throne but the biblical origins of the word are a reminder of the need for a debt cancellation, writes Phil Thornton

Golden opportunity: the Queen celebrates 50 years on the throne in 2002 (Getty)

The modern economy cannot run without debt. Governments need to borrow to fund improved services, businesses to enable expansion and families to take on mortgages to buy homes.

As former US banker Richard Vague says in his recent book The Case for a Debt Jubilee, debt is like water – neither intrinsically good nor bad but indispensable and unnoticed until there is too much (or too little) of it. “This is the paradox: debt growth brings economic growth, but too much of it impedes growth,” he says.

As the world enters “another year older and deeper in debt” – to paraphrase an American folk song – alarm bells over the mountains of debt built up will start to ring louder especially as people start counting the cost of festive celebrations.