Even before today’s job ad in The Economist, it is clear who will win the race.
GOD, in the shape of Baron Augustine O’Donnell, former head of the British civil service, is set to be the next governor of the Bank of England. For a start, the job spec indicated that only superhumans need apply. And just to make sure the Chancellor sees sense, two of the three High Eminences on the interview panel – Treasury mandarins Nick Macpherson and Tom Scholar – owe their rapid ascent to High Eminence to Him and the third – well, it doesn’t really matter what the third thinks. Sorry, Adair, Paul, tear up those application letters.
The question that really matters is: does he, could he lead us out of The Money Trap? What we need now is a Moses to lead the chldren to the promised land. The road there is sketched out in chapters 14 and 15.
O’Donnell is not the kind of person who easily tolerates failure either in himself or others. If he looks now to the reputation he wants to leave behind, muddling through is not enough. That is what the government is doing. So are all other governments.
And that is the issue on which the interview panel should focus.
GOD? We need Moses
Even before today’s job ad in The Economist, it is clear who will win the race.
GOD, in the shape of Baron Augustine O’Donnell, former head of the British civil service, is set to be the next governor of the Bank of England. For a start, the job spec indicated that only superhumans need apply. And just to make sure the Chancellor sees sense, two of the three High Eminences on the interview panel – Treasury mandarins Nick Macpherson and Tom Scholar – owe their rapid ascent to High Eminence to Him and the third – well, it doesn’t really matter what the third thinks. Sorry, Adair, Paul, tear up those application letters.
The question that really matters is: does he, could he lead us out of The Money Trap? What we need now is a Moses to lead the chldren to the promised land. The road there is sketched out in chapters 14 and 15.
O’Donnell is not the kind of person who easily tolerates failure either in himself or others. If he looks now to the reputation he wants to leave behind, muddling through is not enough. That is what the government is doing. So are all other governments.
And that is the issue on which the interview panel should focus.
Written on September 14, 2012 at 9:12 pm, by robert
Categories: Homepage, News and Comment, RP's Diary | Tags: Adair Turner, Bank of England, central banking, central banks, Governor, Gus O'Donnell, Lord O'Donnell, Paul Tucker, The Money Trap