nuff said!!, page-23

Yes, I have done some research this morning and look what I found at

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/british-debt-history/

Now if you accept that the roll of gold in the modern monetary affairs began in 1844 with the Bank Charter Act and ended when Nixon in 1971 unilaterally cancelling the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold then we have to conclude that such a role neither precluded Britain from participating in wars including in two world ones nor did it precluded the British Gov from borrowing much more, in relative terms, to what is borrowing today.

As Krugman once said: a system that leaves monetary managers free to do good also leaves them free to be irresponsible—and, in some countries, they have been quick to take the opportunity. But that is another matter.