My toxic character trait is that, whenever I find myself in a non-English speaking country (as I believe locals call their mother tongue) and I’m asked a question, I panic and reflexively default to French. This has gone on to cause a scene in Germany, Brazil and one time in Australia on encountering an extremely broad Queensland accent. Still, as panics go, the consequences are at least limited to my embarrassment.
Now, far be it for me to tell the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) how to behave. The Bank of England was granted operational independence from government (and newsletter writers, for that matter) for good reason. But today’s half-point rise – ‘shock rise’ in journalese – taking rates to their highest level since October 2008, raises a question: is this a reaction to the data, or an overreaction to the barrage of criticism the Bank has faced from all sides?
