BoE auction: Out of touch Old Lady

The Bank of England made a highly publicised U-turn last week when it agreed to supply banks with three-month money. Now nobody has taken up the offer - causing another embarrassment for the Bank’s embattled Governor, Mervyn King. There may well be UK financial institutions that could do with additional short-term financing and which initially welcomed King’s willingness to supply it. But their initial responsiveness to the Old Lady’s advances has faded since they considered the prohibitive cos...