Watching Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England speaking live at the Mansion House he said something to the effect that the church did weddings and funerals, and people ignored the sermons. He said the Bank of England did sermons and burials, fluffing the intended analogy. The BBC then reported that the Bank said it wanted the power to ensure its sermons were listened to. Did I get that wrong, but surely the slip of the tongue is indicative; that the underlying reality is that no one driven by profit really listens to the Bank of England? And who can blame them when King can’t even get the fundamental analogy right; surely the precision is important?

PS: The Chancellor said there were no simple solutions. Wrong, there are no easy solutions. Simple is part of complex. There therefore logically must be simple solutions.