I spy inflation

Sometimes a fresh look provides much needed perspective on a difficult situation. If that’s the case at the Bank of England, then the risk that UK inflation is getting out of hand must be rising. In the October meeting of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, both the newest members - Tim Besley and Andrew Sentance - voted for an immediate 0.25 percentage point increase in the overnight interest rate to 5%. True, David Blanchflower, who joined in June, is more concerned with some signs of slack...