Bank isn't giving us the facts we need to question big business

EVERY now and again, the Bank of England Governor invites journalists in for lunch. The last one I went to, we sat in the “Governor’s Dining Room”, a wood-panelled chamber in the heart of the vast building. There was a clock ticking, as we picked away at our English asparagus and salmon, just the two of us.

- Chris Blackhurst

It took my mind back to sitting in my tutor’s study at university, at the top of an ancient college staircase. In the presence of a great mind, and for an hour or so, the rest of the world shut out, just the two of us.

That must be how the Bank and its Governor liked it, how they saw themselves, as a brain’s trust divorced from the little folk and their lives, and the sometimes unseemly goings on, around them. While academics can afford to be like that, it’s impossible to make such a case for the Bank. It ought to be on top of everything, absolutely knowing what is occurring and why. Better still, predicting with accuracy what will happen and how.

That is never the impression conveyed by Andrew Bailey, the present governor, nor the rest of his crew. This week, supermarket bosses trooped into the Commons to be roasted by MPs from all sides, furious at their delivery of record profits during a cost-of-living crisis.

How can that be? Well, only if a significant portion of those inflated prices is down to greed on the part of the retailer, passing off an increase as necessary and due to circumstances beyond their control, when in truth they’re exploiting the downbeat mood music to make even more money.