Had the Bank of England not intervened to buy £65 billion of government debt last week, millions of pensioners might have seen their pension schemes going bust. From the Guardian:

Pension funds managing vast sums on behalf of retirees across Britain came close to collapse amid an “unprecedented” meltdown in UK government bond markets after Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, the Bank of England has said.

Explaining its emergency intervention to calm turmoil in financial markets last week, the central bank said pension funds with more than £1tn invested in them came under severe strain with a “large number” in danger of going bust.

The Bank said a dramatic rise for interest rates on long-dated UK government bonds in the days immediately after the chancellor’s mini-budget had triggered a “self-reinforcing” spiral in debt markets, putting the stability of Britain’s financial system at risk.

Had the Bank not intervened with a promise to buy up to £65bn of government debt, funds managing money on behalf of pensioners across the country “would have been left with negative net asset value” and cash demands they could not have met.

“As a result, it was likely that these funds would have to begin the process of winding up the following morning,” the Bank said.

The level of incompetence is frightening. We might have had a few laughs (of derision, not out of humour) at this appalling shower supposedly running the country this past week, but I don't think I'm exaggerating when I express the view that they are a positively dangerous and unfunny bunch of bastards.