The Bank of England offers no compelling understanding of inflation

The Bank of England did not apologise for the massive overshoot in inflation. Hiking interest rates to 4% for no particularly good reason and dodging the big issue of selling bonds at a loss, the Bank did say “Our job is to make sure that inflation returns to our 2% target”. So they accept inflation is their responsibility and they have the tools to do the job, but offer no explanation that makes sense for why they did not keep it to 2% inflation in the last two years.

They blame the higher energy prices and higher import prices the UK has faced. They do not ask themselves why China, Japan and Switzerland facing those same rising world prices kept their inflation down to 2% for China and to under 4% for the other two. They do not explain why they kept rates so low and why they kept creating money and buying bonds as they watched energy prices soar. They do not explain why UK inflation hit 5.5% before Putin invaded Ukraine.  They do confess they let demand outrun supply. They do not comment on the £150bn of Quantitative easing bond buying at crazy high prices they did in 2021 when some of us were urging them to stop.

On their central forecast they have  now slowed the economy so much this year that inflation will fall well short of the 2% target by 2025. Why? Why do the extra damage to demand and ,jobs so you generate lower inflation than  needed and worse jobs and output? We need always to bear in mind that a year before inflation took off they were confidently forecasting it would stay around 2%.

They think the longer term growth capacity of the economy has slowed again to just 1% a year. The government needs to adopt policies that prove them wrong. The Bank itself needs to revise its forecasting models and give a more prominent role to money and credit. The Monetary Policy committee fails to report to us on how much money and credit creation there has been and has  no targets for anything to to do with money. No wonder they find it difficult to get it right.

 

91 Comments

  1. Mark B
    February 3, 2023

    Good morning.

    . . . the Bank did say “Our job is to make sure that inflation returns to our 2% target”. So they accept inflation is their responsibility and they have the tools to do the job, but offer no explanation that makes sense for why they did not keep it to 2% inflation in the last two years.

    This underlines what I have been saying, that the BoE and the governments whole economic policy is centred around reducing inflation. This is in itself no bad thing but, as highlighted before and in this piece, it has not only failed to keep to its target of around 2% but, was in fact the culprit along with a profligate government.

    I find myself, a non-economic expert but at least someone with, I think, a little common sense, screaming into the void ! ”Cut spending FFS !!

    There are numerous areas where spending reductions can be made which would not adversely affect the economy. We here often site the, Overseas Aid Budget. Subsidies to energy (mostly foreign) energy companies. Political charities. Wasteful local and devolved administrations. The list goes on.

    If this so called government does not get a grip of the economy, the bond markets will !

    1. Michelle
      February 3, 2023

      I hear and second your frustration.
      It seems it’s not only the BofE that offers no compelling understanding, to quote the title of the article, but the Govt. as a whole is guilty of the same.

      Still, after many years of reading around various views, and returning to the wisdom of my elders I am of the firm belief that the intention is to manage our decline, in every way possible.
      I hope I can be proved wrong but until such time, I see nothing that shows me all those words of warning I’d been reading and hearing throughout the years were but words of fools.

      1. Timaction
        February 3, 2023

        Why have they put Corporation tax up to 25%? I think its to deliberately crash our economy, to put investors off, to persuade us we need the EU. No. We need a real conservative Party like Reform. Not the Tory’s who will be wiped out and not forgiven for their abject failures everywhere and all policy area’s. Energy strategy, foreign aid, net stupid, mass legal and illegal immigration, 7.2 million waiting lists in the English NHS, we wonder why- refer to mass immigration, failing schools, strikes every where, woke anyone?

      2. John Hatfield
        February 3, 2023

        “I am of the firm belief that the intention is to manage our decline,”
        Kicking Truss out is hard evidence of that.

        1. glen cullen
          February 3, 2023

          Concur

    2. turboterrier
      February 3, 2023

      Mark B
      Not numerous areas pal.
      EVERY AREA NO EXCEPTIONS.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      February 3, 2023

      If we’re on the subject of apologies, no one in any of the Leave campaigns has apologised for the utter mess wrecking businesses, and blighting opportunities for millions, that their brexit has spawned.

      It really is quite striking.

    4. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Mark B +1

      You may also have noticed in all this the Government is point blank refusing to manage anything, other than take taxes from you. So at the root of all these situations is a Government 100% in neglect of duty, neglect of what we pay them for.

  2. DOM
    February 3, 2023

    Who holds Bailey to account?

    I see no point in John and co. attacking this inanimate entity they call the Bank of England. Attack those people who take the decisions. Attack them and destroy their credibility and competence.

    Since Brexit and then the Covid project it feels as though we are at war with dark, unseen forces. Bailey is a part of that war but is allowed to hide behind the facade of bureaucracy without ever taking any hit from those who seek revenge

    As an aside. Why does the law now treat each UK citizen according to identity rather than their simple citizenship? I see equal treatment in the face of the law has been replaced by the Marxist version of the law in which certain types are deemed above while others are immediately found guilty simply by existing

    1. Michelle
      February 3, 2023

      A return to the old ‘murdrum’ fines and law soon for us.

    2. Gary Megson
      February 3, 2023

      Dom, agreed, let’s attack those people who take the decisions. That would be the Conservative party that has been in power for over 12 years. It decides what to do – remember Brexit, remember taking back control? – and yet then we hear from the Conservatives that they are not to blame for the state of the country but that instead everyone else – Bank of England, EU, civil servants, woke universities, migrants etc etc – is to blame. The Conservatives used to be the party of personal responsibility – not any more!

    3. Bill B.
      February 3, 2023

      Who holds Bailey to account? Umm… John, I think. Nobody else as far as I know.

      1. glen cullen
        February 3, 2023

        I think you could be right
        Its said ‘that people are only 3 steps away from the gutter’, well I believe our country is only 3 steps away from Marxism 
and In think we’re 2 steps in

  3. Ashley
    February 3, 2023

    Indeed. (40% personal overdraft rates) Andrew Bailey blames inflation and lack of growth on three big hits:- Covid, Energy price rises (from Putin’s war) and Brexit.

    No Bailey the blame lies with:-
    1. the absurdly damaging over reaction to Covid (the lockdown, endless waste, net harm vaccines even for children and the young who never needed them and the endless corruption and waste).
    2. The idiotic net zero religion and the crony capitalism of intermittent renewables for energy prices.
    3. The gross failure to take any real advantage of Brexit.
    4. Sunak & the BoE vast money printing currency debasement and economic mis-management, vastly high taxes, huge overregulation and the vast government waste/corruption.

    Pathetic interview of Sunak by Piers Morgan last night – a what would you like to say next Mr V. Important PM type of interview.

    1. Donna
      February 3, 2023

      Correct. The main cause of the inflation is the lockdowns and the rest of the lunatic Covid policies.

      I didn’t watch the interview. I saw a clip of Sunak explaining how (in his opinion) he took swift action to sack Zahawi the other day and he reminded me of a Thunderbirds marionette – hands jerking around, head nodding, bouncing up and down. And I guess marionette is exactly what he is: except it’s Schwab and Co operating the controls, not Gerry Adams.

    2. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Ashley When do we get Brexit? When has there not been a war draining UK resources, the energy problem was ccreated by this Conservative Governments through neglect over 13 years and Boris Johnsons desire to punish ayone that uses it. After 13 years it is not recent situation, the Conservatives have made it part of their culture for half a generation

    3. Ashley
      February 3, 2023

      In the interview Sunak seems to want to be judged after his first year as PM. But Piers Morgan failed to point out that was Chancellor for over two years. He clearly made a complete fist of this job, giving us the inflation and economic mess we have now (with lockdowns, money printing, net zero and his tax borrow and piss down the drain agenda). He has not even admitted to these appalling errors or even said sorry for them yet. Why trust him now?

      His idiotic “solution” to illegal immigration is another new law (perhaps one day Lords permitting). Good plan Sunak, the economic migrants and criminals will surely be far, far more worried about a “new” law than the existing totally unenforced ones. Shivering in their boots as they contemplate the new wording no doubt!

    4. Ashley
      February 3, 2023

      Lord Heseltine on Talk Radio just now 9.20am supporting Sunak’s mad extended lockdowns and, needless to say, pushing for ever more EU, claiming Brexit was a disaster and saying most people now want to rejoin.

      What more proof is needed to show that Sunak is not the right person to be PM if people like Heseltine are backing him?

    5. Stred
      February 3, 2023

      On any measure of performance, Bailey and the committee should be sacked, but because he is part of the agenda he won’t be.
      Slightly off topic, another question for SJR.
      It appears that the pharma companies are holding government to the contracts for huge numbers of booster jabs that few people want and the health authorities wish to cancel. In the case of the NHS, they reserved 500 million according to the Guardian. That’s ÂŁ20 x 500 million= ÂŁ10 billion, or 50 billion if they have signed for the increased price of ÂŁ100. Please tell us it isn’t true.

    6. glen cullen
      February 3, 2023

      The whole premise of the UN IPPC and the UK Climate Change Act is that manmade activity and its use of fossil fuels in increasing the sea levels 
well, on another site ‘not a lot of people know that’ has analysed governments own monitoring data that debunks that increase – therefore the climate change is a con 
and this government knows it

    7. Bill Brown
      February 3, 2023

      Ashley

      There is no real advantage to take of Brexit
      You seem to have misunderstood this point

  4. Ian wragg
    February 3, 2023

    They have to damage the economy as a precursor to rejoining the EU. There is no other explanation.
    Net zero is another toil to bankrupt us all in the handbook.
    The peasants aren’t stupid and we’re getting to a stage where direct action is necessary

    1. turboterrier
      February 3, 2023

      Ian Wragg
      It is not too far away.
      They can keep peeing down our necks and telling us it’s the rain for so long before the boots start overflowing.
      We are being played as idiots.
      Like with all these things sooner or later the bad moons start rising.

      1. Fedupsouthener
        February 3, 2023

        Good post Turbo.

    2. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Ian wragg +1

    3. Bill Brown
      February 3, 2023

      Ian Wragg

      Total misunderstanding, nobody in the EU wants Britain to rejoin.
      So your explanation is a misunderstanding

  5. Cuibono
    February 3, 2023

    Could they have purposely screwed up the economy in a way reminiscent of “Pin the tail on the donkey” simply as a diversion for the things they really want to do?
    Obviously none of them is stupid. How would a stupid person climb that high?
    Online Harms Bill which will effectively criminalises free speech and the sneaky binding up of us with apps and phones to bring in digital currency and total control.
    Plenty of other draconian measures..15 min cities, surveillance etc.
    Maybe THOSE are the measures we should be discussing?

    1. Ashley
      February 3, 2023

      Well we already have the 77th Brigade, the ministry of truth, the dire BBC, much of MSM and Neil O’Brian types attacking and monitoring those who were clearly correct on Covid. Plus we have the endless propaganda on net zero and the many dishonest attack dogs there.

  6. PeteB
    February 3, 2023

    “Hiking interest rates to 4% for no good reason”.
    A 4% interest rate is perfectly sensible, reasonable and more consistent with historic rates over 300 years than the near zero rate of teh last 15 years had been. It should cost to borrow. That way people (and maybe even Government) think more carefully before taking on debt.

    1. Cuibono
      February 3, 2023

      ++many
      Have to admit.
      It is a slight relief to get a little return on one’s pathetic savings after all these years.
      But then, with a certain much-loved soup at nearly £2 per tin



      1. Cheshire Girl
        February 3, 2023

        I make no apology whatsoever, at my delight on seeing the interest on my savings increase.
        Over the past 10/13 years, my hard working, late, Husband, and I lost thousands, after a lifetime of managing our money carefully, and not living beyond our means.
        There was never any hint of sympathy for such as us.We were expected to grin and bear it.

    2. turboterrier
      February 3, 2023

      Peter B
      Government thinks??

      1. Ashley
        February 3, 2023

        On yes but they ponder “What is in the best interests of these politicians, regulators and civil servants?” and not “what is in the real interests of the voters and citizens or the 80% who do not work for the, largely parasitic, state sector?”.

        1. Carmel
          February 3, 2023

          Yeah! Nurses, police, doctors, army, binmen, teachers – that parasitic state sector. I just wish we had more bankers and hedge fund managers

    3. Bloke
      February 3, 2023

      The BoE has only to pick a plus or minus number for interest rates 8 times a year.
      Imagine they were confined to number one every time. The outcome might well be better without their worthless nonsense added.
      Banksters waste our money like desperate casino chancers increasingly raising the odds with their bad hands. They need change to improve but they stick, twist and bust British values.

  7. Cuibono
    February 3, 2023

    As far as I can make out NONE of this was a mistake.
    All directed by the IMF ( Spend, spend, spend
Lower Longer..etc etc)
    Must have known the probable consequences.
    Wreck the world using fear as your weapon and then rebuild it in your image.
    “Look HERE
not THERE”.
    Surely the oldest conjuring trick in the book?

    1. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Cuibono +1 exactly, contrived decline

    2. Gary Megson
      February 3, 2023

      The IMF has no powers in the UK, none at all. The Conservative Party has been running this country for 12 years. If you really don’t think the Conservatives are the people to blame here, then yes, you are the victim of a huge con(juring) trick

  8. Cuibono
    February 3, 2023

    As far as theories go I would prefer that those doing all this were actually just plain stupid.
    That, to my mind, gives a little bit of hope.
    Better than evil people who might be doing things to purposely harm us.

  9. Stephen Reay
    February 3, 2023

    Inflation shouldn’t fall well below the 2 % target because the BoE’s target IS 2%. Letting inflation go down to near 0% would be reckless. They would risk the economy overheating,just as letting inflation run well over 2% would chill the economy. It sound like lessons haven’t been learnt. We need a goldilocks economy ,that should be the aim.

    1. Mike Wilson
      February 3, 2023

      If inflation is 0%, or if there is deflation, the economy doesn’t overheat. The exact opposite happens. People hang onto their money in the hope of getting things cheaper. Car sales, furniture sales, kitchen refits etc. all go on hold in the hope of cheaper prices. That is why ‘they’ target inflation at 2% – not too high and not too low.

  10. Ashley
    February 3, 2023

    Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston has come under heavy fire from the defence select committee over an “unlawful order” to favour women and ethnic minorities and discriminate against circa 160 white men when selecting individuals for training courses.

    Is this man still in the job? If you recruit on diversity grounds then inevitable you are actively discriminating against some people and obviously then end up not employing the best candidate. You cannot do both. Do we really want our defence forces to be less than the best they could be? Then have ÂŁ30 million fighter jets flown by inferior pilots selected for diversity over ability?

    Also it cost more to train women per useful hours work you get back as statistically they take more career breaks and work far fewer hours on average over a lifetime. They also take circa 60% more sick leave surveys have shown.

    1. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Ashley What they like to call inclusion and diversity is in fact out and out discrimination. At the same time the UK and its people are crying out for the ‘best-of-best’ were the political class are using tax payer money. The discrimination then is only ability, therefore suitability for the job.

      Its the Government in charge of creating biggest discrimination crime of all time.

      1. Ashley
        February 3, 2023

        +1

    2. The Prangwizard
      February 3, 2023

      And defence training is of course open to abuse and exploitstion which our leaders and many polititions cannot imagine or dare not confront; that is some ethnic trainees, while living here are still loyal to their country of origin. As soon as they get the detail they want they go home.

      We are governed and lead by incredibly naive and stupid people who seem to be immune to dismissal. If we have woke and cowardly leaders we have no defences.

      1. Ashley
        February 3, 2023

        +1

  11. Berkshire Alan
    February 3, 2023

    I cannot understand why politicians and so called experts fail to understand simple mathematics, and the lessons of history.
    We have seen all these problems before, in many parts of the World, many solutions have been tried, many have failed, so they now think the solution is to make matters even more complicated.
    For goodness sake, look after what you have got, live within your means, stop spending money you have not got, stop wasteful spending on vanity projects, stop the printing presses (now a click a button), stop the race to net Zero, stop believing that the State can, and should provide and solve everything.

    1. hefner
      February 3, 2023

      ‘Stop the world, I want to get off’.

      1. Mickey Taking
        February 4, 2023

        It does seem that all the people who have extreme wealth or hold onto power have lost their marbles, and we the masses suffer as a result.
        ‘Let them eat cake’ has transformed into ‘What recession, what heat or eat?’

    2. Gabe
      February 3, 2023

      “Live within your means”. Good to see the Lords are doing this with their £7million new door! About the cost of constructing 70 new small three bed houses. But clearly a posh door is far more important than homeless families to politicians and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Still we are all in this together.

    3. glen cullen
      February 3, 2023

      ‘’lessons of history’’
      The London Mayor about to bring in the ULEZ without establishing the effectiveness of the London Congestion Charge
      The London Mayor is telling everyone its about cleaning the air, while government BEIS own reports indicates that our air has never been cleaner
      Why aren’t government Ministers or Tory MPs highlighting these discrepancies to the media

    4. Mike Wilson
      February 3, 2023

      I agree. But as far as I can see there is nothing that can be done. The state is an insatiable monster. It just grows and grows. They might say that public sector employment is down compared to some point in the past. But it’s a lie. Lots of things the state used to do are now outsourced. Bin collections, social care, prison transport – the list goes on and on. Who in the public sector ever says ‘our new IT systems mean we can reduce headcount’? Nobody! Have all the computers on desktops caused any increase in productivity enabling a reduction in staff costs.

      It strikes me that the size of the public sector ought to be limited by law. It just grows and grows and grows.

    5. SM
      February 3, 2023

      How right you are, Alan – and how stupid most MPs are nowadays.

    6. MFD
      February 3, 2023

      Alan,
      Why have we now had two dumbo’s given the top seat in the BOE, I believe it is the morons in the treasury do not want to be shown for what they are,

  12. Cuibono
    February 3, 2023

    The BoE is whining that the country’s workforce is permanently smaller.
    People who couldn’t go to work because of “plague” policies made good their escape from the HELL govts have made of the work place.
    BoE shouldn’t have supported the bonkers narrative should it?

  13. Richard1
    February 3, 2023

    It sounds like the BoE and it’s MPC have become like SAGE – a collection of no doubt worthy and well qualified individuals who largely agree with one another, engaging in group-think and an element of backside covering. Dissenting opinions are not allowed. The govt have it in their power to make changes and should do so, put in some freeer thinking economists who understand monetary policy would be a start. I suggest Patrick Minford, Tim Cogdon, Julian Jessop and Liam Halligan as a start. Remove some of those whose policies have clearly been such an abject failure. (the governor himself seems to unremovable, and can sit, blob-like, until he chooses to go – which seems extraordinary in the light of his failure).

    1. hefner
      February 3, 2023

      Are you sure? The minutes of the BoE’s MPCs are available at bankofengland.co.uk
      By setting two dates one can get all the decisions and minutes of meetings between these two dates, then get the transcripts of the discussions, even including how many and the names of the members having taken this, that or another position in the discussion.

      See for example ‘Monetary Policy Summary, February 2023’, paragraphs 38, 39, 43.

      So your comment about ‘group-think’, ‘dissenting opinions’ and ‘backside covering’ is rather fluffy (to say the least).

  14. Javelin
    February 3, 2023

    I have worked in investment banks for 30 years and have no idea how demand side inflation is causing interest rates to rise.

    To dampen an investment bubble ? no (our investment is falling)

    To stop soaring house prices? no (already at the limit)

    To increase savings? no (not passed on)

    To reduce investment in low profit companies because of labour shortages ? (no mass migration continues)

    Inflation is being caused by supply side price increases such as supply chain costs and energy costs.

    The only reason I can think is that banking and bond issuance advisors are telling the BofE that the markets will lower the Government’s credit worthiness if they don’t raise the interest rates on bonds.

    Perhaps the huge rump of benefit recipients who are unemployed, disabled or low income and retirees needing higher interest rates are the cause of interest rate rises.

    But it’s NOT demand side inflation.

    1. Lynn Atkinson
      February 3, 2023

      Correct. It’s cost-push not demand-pull. Nobody in the Bank seems to understand that inflation and price rises are not the same thing.

    2. formula57
      February 3, 2023

      Certainly structural supply side issues are beyond the Bank’s power to influence in any direct way. Perhaps the idea is to erode demand to such an extent that what is supplied will struggle to find bids? In the case of gas and other energy products, pricing has to a great extent reflected imbalances in demand and supply.

  15. Jude
    February 3, 2023

    Those who are responsible for mismanagement must be investigated. If then proven that bad decisions were made or personnel were irresponsible. Then ‘heads must roll’. If the BoE is ineffective that is totally unacceptable to expect taxpayers to keep making up the shortfalls!
    Likewise it is not acceptable that those that fail in high office & are replaced. Then get rewarded with Knighthoods etc.

  16. Ian B
    February 3, 2023

    “The Bank of England did not apologise for the massive overshoot in inflation”

    Its because they are a law unto themselves, no over-site, no accountability, no responsibility. All supported by a Government who refuses to manage, refuses to create a balanced budget in their own empires.

    Who pays for all these mistakes – the Tax Payer.

    Your are seeing a Conservative Party out to cause mayhem and destruction of the UK and its economy.

  17. Donna
    February 3, 2023

    The B of E’s policies are deliberate.

    They’ve ramped up inflation which has led directly to the wave of public sector strikes. Now they’ve created a recession and are ensuring that it will continue for the whole 18 months leading up to the next General Election. And then the incoming Labour Government will inherit an economy which is slightly improving so they can claim the credit.

    Sunak/Hunt could, of course, do something about it…. and they could start by holding Bailey to account. But they won’t since they basically have the same instructions and long-term objectives.

    The Government is now advertising for a Head of Central Bank Digital Currency. That’s why Hunt and Sunak were installed by the Globalists against the wishes of MPs and the Conservative Party Membership.
    https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1835241

    The Great Reset is the objective they are both delivering.

  18. Anselm
    February 3, 2023

    I simply do not understand this money business at all. I should have thought that if you have lots of something the value sinks and if you haven’t then the value goes up. That is my entire knowledge of money. All those naughts and confusing words!
    I just wish that various people who ring in to LBC had the same attitude! Their one aim seems to be to sniff out profit and steal it! The cost of electricity, by the way is nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with the greedy oil people who are MAKING A HUGE PROFIT for their shareholders.
    I wonder how many MPs are as bad with money as me.

  19. Mickey Taking
    February 3, 2023

    off topic…
    The ÂŁ3bn HMS Prince of Wales (aircraft carrier) has been in a dry dock since October 12 after it broke down in August. Repairs on the starboard propeller shaft were due to be completed over the next few weeks.But the Daily Express can reveal the port-side shaft will also need to be repaired as a “similar” fault has been identified.
    And Navy chiefs are now considering delaying the aircraft carrier’s departure from Rosyth.This could mean plans are shifted by several weeks.
    Defence Minister Alex Chalk told Tory MP Mark Francois: “During the investigation into the cause of the defect, an issue was also identified with HMS Prince OF Wales port shaft, and to prevent a similar defect occurring, rectification of this issue is expected to be completed before she commences her operational programme, as planned, in Autumn 2023.”
    Engineers are trying to source all of the parts they need. If they are successful, they will be able to fix the portside shaft over the coming weeks.
    Inspections found the 33-ton starboard propeller had malfunctioned, with a coupling holding it in place breaking.

  20. William Long
    February 3, 2023

    Well, if you put a failed regulator in charge, what else can you expect? But clearly no-one in the Government, or the Treasury Select Committee has any better understanding of the causes of inflation, or the points you raise would already have been made to the Bank.

  21. Ian B
    February 3, 2023

    Lord Frost in today’s Telegraph

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/02/tories-will-regret-surrendering-power-experts-dominic-raab-nadhim/

    Although starting out on a different subject everything he says can equally be applied to all UK woes that include the bank of England

    “Gradually, the Prime Minister’s right to determine the members of his own government, and defend them, is being eroded.
    Unfortunately this is part of a pattern – and not just with the current government. All sorts of decisions are outsourced to supposedly neutral experts. Regulating the City? Leave that to the regulators and keep the elected government out. Want to change fiscal policy? Only if the Office for Budget Responsibility says you can. Pay rises for nurses? Leave that to the pay review bodies. Or, most absurdly, do you think there is a problem with English football? Then bring in an independent regulator to tell them how to run things.”
    “The truth is that you can’t take the politics out of politics. Outsourcing decisions just allows others to shape them – and sometimes take them for you. The most successful governments are those which work out what the right action is and get on with it. That’s what we need to see more of.“

    1. Ian B
      February 3, 2023

      @Ian B – or as the headline said “Tories will regret surrendering power to the ‘experts’”

  22. Donna
    February 3, 2023

    Off topic.

    Perhaps Sir John could ask Barclay why the Civil Service is advertising for a Vaccines Supply Operations Lead (ad. closes 14 Feb 2023. Amongst other things, the individual will be responsible for
    “The role of Vaccine Supply Operations Lead is a new post to support the operations, providing accurate and timely reports for a range of stakeholders during what is expected to be the UK’s largest vaccination programme which will be delivered at pace and will be a key Ministerial priority. The role will be directly responsible for the daily operational management of all COVID related products, ensuring their timely distribution across the UK, Crown Dependencies, and Overseas Territories.”
    https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1836666&amp

    I thought the plandemic was officially over and the jabby jabby programme was being scaled back. Or are they actively preparing for the one which was recently war-gamed for 2025? Why are they anticipating “the UK’s largest vaccination programme?” Vaccination against what?

    And then there’s this:
    “Leading the work on ordering strategies for Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories Enabling a steady flow of vaccines to support the running of UK clinical trials.”

    Why do they anticipate a steady supply of vaccines? Clinical trials for what?

  23. formula57
    February 3, 2023

    In “…dodging the big issue of selling bonds at a loss” the Bank of course does not quantify by how much Quantitative Tightening allows it to lessen interest rate increases and still obtain the same overall effect. But as it has “no targets for anything to to do with money” it might not know!

  24. Richard1
    February 3, 2023

    On the topic of the performance of high status and highly paid officials who have so much power, we read that amongst the allegations of ‘bullying’ against Dominic Raab are that he used the word “bullshit” (if our host will permit its repetition here) to senior civil servants.

    It would be good to compile a list of other occasions on which the lives, health and prosperity of the British people would have been enhanced had ministers told officials that they were talking ‘bullshit’. The models and advice which led to the catastrophic lockdown policy is an obvious recent example. Clearly the train wreck of monetary intervention outlined above is another. The epidemic of wokery which is now compromising the defence of the realm, as the best qualified RAF pilots are passed over in favour of others who tick diversity boxes, is another current example.

    Unless there really is actual bullying according to the normal definition of the word (ie not the one employed in woke HR departments)I suggest Mr Raab is encouraged to carry on being tough on bad or foolish advice. Perhaps he should be knighted to underline the point.

  25. Sanny
    February 3, 2023

    It’s my opinion that they’re trying to increase inflation to try to blame it on Brexit at a later date. Watch this space



  26. glen cullen
    February 3, 2023

    You pay a subcontractor to achieve stated objective and if they fail you would normally penalise them or sack them
    We pay the BoE board members well to achieve 2% inflation 
.and do nothing if they fail

  27. glen cullen
    February 3, 2023

    BBC reporting that the government is to use Pontins holiday camps as illegal immigration camps 
.4 star hotels and new holiday camps, next you’ll be putting them in hospital wards – why can’t you put them in secure army camps or deport them 
what’s worry with this Tory government

  28. Original Richard
    February 3, 2023

    “No wonder they find it difficult to get it right.”

    This is deliberate, they have no intention to “get it right”.
    If Governor of the BoE were a football manager he would have been sacked.

    But these intended damaging financial policies will pale into insignificance compared to the dystopian future planned for us under Net Zero. Energy will be very expensive and intermittent and we will be totally reliant upon coal-fired China for our wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, motors, generators, evs, heat pumps and most goods.

    The price of energy will depend upon whether or not the wind is blowing and demand and we will all be controlled via our smart meters. Forget any sort of energy storage. Using hydrogen would require building 8 GW of wind power for each 1 GW of reliable/dispatchable power and a complete hydrogen back-up generator system. In the case of batteries there simply isn’t even sufficient battery mineral mining capacity, let alone the unaffordable cost.

    Forget owning a car. The transport minister in 2021, Trudy Harrison, MP said :
    “Owning a car is outdated ’20th-century thinking’ and we must move to ‘shared mobility’ to cut carbon emissions”.
    So no need to ramp up installing ev car chargers.

    HS2 will be built to get those whose tickets will be paid by the taxpayers up and down the country quickly like a sort of “Zil Lane”.

  29. Stred
    February 3, 2023

    I never understand why housing costs are not included in the inflation figures. House prices and consequently rents have increased above inflation and are now falling rapidly, especially with another interest rate increase. Valuers for mortgages always value down on a falling market and magnify the slump. If these costs were included, the inflation rate would be lower at the moment.

  30. Keith from Leeds
    February 3, 2023

    Hello Sir John,
    You are right that the Governor of the BOE seems blissfully unaware of how his policies affect the economy. But with Hunt as Chancellor who is challenging the BOE? As I keep saying why has Bailey not been sacked!
    The simple truth is until the cost of government is cut drastically, we will limp onwards when we could be flying. Perhaps, Sir John, you could compare the cost of government in the 1996/7 financial year versus the cost in the 2021/22 financial year. I am sure you would be shocked by the difference, as will all your readers!

  31. Keith Jones
    February 3, 2023

    The governing classes of the UK are not under the control of the electorate and cannot be held responsible by the electorate. The actually elected representatives of the electorate of all colours are not governing the UK and not living up to the promises they made to get into office. The media is not complaining about the lack of Democracy and accountability and is part of the not elected governing classes. The moral compasses of those in charge are not pointing in the same direction which ought to be for the selfless patriotic benefit of the UK.
    The UK workforce who work hard and pay for both the elected, the not elected and the media are having their hard earned incomes wasted so that although there is a lot of volume through the UK “account” there is no “profit”.
    A revolution is required to re acquire a small state, to dramatically reduce the not elected governing classes and to create some patriotism in the media and return some “profit” to the workforce. The Mayans got fed up with their elite and killed them. I judge you Sir John to be a patriot of the first order, you should be running the country.

  32. Bryan Harris
    February 3, 2023

    It seems the BoE as well as the Treasury are deaf to rational arguments.

    Why haven’t they responded to what our host has been telling them? – Why do they refuse to justify their actions with logical explanations?

    I suppose the answers are right in front of our eyes – they have stopped using logic and common sense to run our economy, they rely on dogma supplied by globalist manipulators – They are no longer working for our benefit!

  33. ukretired123
    February 3, 2023

    When you see Andrew Bailey being interviewed on mainstream TV he “waffles much” and does a good job of old fashioned CYB cover your back or similar, spinning in a fog (just like the many “Experts” who all seem to be be graduates of a Masters program in exciting plausibility announcements with no core centre facts, rather like a life belt to save their embarrassment). Poor show given his dire track record at the FCA.

  34. bert young
    February 3, 2023

    The Government is wrong to allow the BofE its control of inflation , after all , who is in charge of the economy ?. We have gone through a massive shock to our finances and enough is enough . Confidence must be restored and drastic change introduced .

  35. Atlas
    February 3, 2023

    I suppose it is all a case of “Not losing face” as the Chinese would say.

  36. miami.mode
    February 3, 2023

    At PMQs on Wednesday in answer to a question from Stephen Flynn, Rishi Sunak clearly stated that inflation has been caused by high energy prices as a result of a war in Ukraine. Surely he couldn’t be wrong, could he?

    1. Mark B
      February 3, 2023

      Correct. Nothing to do with all that money he printed. 😉

      /sarc

      1. glen cullen
        February 3, 2023

        ÂŁ895bn

  37. Elli Ron
    February 3, 2023

    The BoE has become a political, pro Labour body, it’s action against Truss was the immediate and direct cause of her failure. Problem is, Sunak is indebted to Bailey for handing him the PM job, so Bailey is bulletproof.

  38. forthurst
    February 3, 2023

    When ‘Bailey’ was in charge of the Financial Conduct Authority, people with savings had to prove their ‘sources of wealth’ to their banks as the banks were being fined and harassed over money laundering. This performance should have debarred ‘Bailey’ from any further public appointment. Did he seriously think that banks had sufficient qualified staff sitting around for some ridiculous make work scheme like that which resulted in my accounts being frozen because the armies of new scribes in Leicester managed to lose my submission? Why in any case should everybody who is not a pauper have to prove to the odious ‘Bailey’ that a typical Englishman is not as crooked as some of those who have enriched us, especially when it involved tracking back on investments over very many years to prove that I was not some sort of financial crook as though the work I used to do had no bearing on my present financial status?

  39. John Waugh
    February 3, 2023

    “They let demand outrun supply”
    During the global financial crisis QE was used to create money electronically-it was not actually printed- in an attempt to boost economic recovery. This money was pumped into government bonds/gilts .
    Leading to stock and bond markets doing well .High bond prices forced interest rates down . This made the wealthier richer and caused difficulties for pension funds with annuity rates plunging .
    QE related to the pandemic however saw money being directly supplied to businesses and individuals meaning demand still existed .
    However supply largely collapsed because people were forced to stay at home .
    Demand exceeds supply – result – inflation .
    I am trying to understand all of the above so any comments good .

  40. Sea_Warrior
    February 4, 2023

    Found myself watching some CNBC coverage of the rate hikes. Lagarde wasn’t at all impressive handling questions – Bailey did better – and there was some scathing comment on the leadership at an ECB struggling to set a single rate for most of a continent. If the ECB has to push rates above ours, next month, I would hope that you and other Brexiteers in parliament make a point of letting the British people know about it.

  41. XY
    February 4, 2023

    Increasing taxes at a time of rising interest rates to control inflation that is already falling is a policy package almost perfectly designed to cause a recession.

    Everyone seems to know that, so it’s difficult to believe that only the people who don’t know it are in the role of PM and BoE governor – the question is then: why are they doing it?

    One point is that they hit the self-employed again (reducing dividend tax allowances etc). The Sunak family business benefits from this.

    Hunt’s only feeble attempt at justification was to say that “People who do thye same work should pay the same taxes”. So by that measure, a self-employed plumber should pay teh same taxes as one who work for Homneserve or British Gas.

    But they don’t – and the Hunts of this world don’t think they should either, they only hit those self-employed who’ve been forced down a Ltd Co route by legislation which was designed to curb the excesses of agencies – and was then shimmied off themselves by the agencies onto the worker, by them saying that they will only deal with people working through a Ltd Co.

  42. Lindsay McDougall
    February 5, 2023

    Indeed. There are a couple of things that need to be added. Firstly, the 2% target for inflation is an average, not a minimum, so one year of 10% inflation should logically be followed by 5 years of zero inflation. (Who knows, after 5 years of zero inflation, we might grow to like it,) Secondly, if we are to control money supply by targeting inflation, the inflation indexed used should not be CPI but should include asset prices, particularly house prices. Had this been done, monetary policy would have been a bit tighter in most years since 2001 and a bit looser in 2008/9, making the recession then a little shallower,

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