New U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss off to a rocky start

• Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng decided to do both at the same time, deficits be damned.
• The package Kwarteng laid out on Friday sent the pound plummeting to a record-low against the dollar, forced an emergency central bank intervention, and prompted the sort of concerned IMF response typically reserved for debt-laden developing countries.

Driving the news: Criticized for her initial silence as the economy tanked, Truss appeared on eight local radio stations on Thursday. But her halting answers gave further fuel to the opposition.

• “Liz Truss has finally broken her long painful silence with a series of short painful silences," Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner quipped.

By the numbers: Labour leads the Conservatives by a stunning 33% according to a new YouGov poll, up from 14% when she took office just three weeks ago.

• Still, no general election is due for two years. For now, Truss insists she'll stay the course.