No. 26 REPORT TO THE NATION BRITAIN stand today? This is what we're up against. We are worse off than before the war —and because of the war. Here are the three main reasons:— 1. We sold a lot of investments abroad—and must now get along without the interest and dividends they used to earn. 2. Our earnings from shipping and from banking and insurance services for other countries, though improving, are worth less than pre-war. 3. The prices we have to pay for our imports have risen much faster than the prices we can get for our exports.