Steady Eddie

(By Richard Holway 8.00pm 19th Apr 09) You will no doubt have read about the death of former Governor of the Bank of England Eddie (Lord) George aged 70 after a long battle with cancer.

70 is no age nowadays – so it does tend to be a reminder of your own mortality!

But the death reminded me of a cherished memory. Back on 10th May 2001 I was invited to dinner by (then just Sir) Eddie at the Bank of England to discuss the New Economy. Even that title now seems dated. Going to dinner at the Bank is a truly memorable occasion with its pink jacketed, top hatted ushers. I was sat opposite Sir Eddie and next to Mervyn King, the then Deputy Governor. I didn’t know until my own involvement, that the BoE has many of these sessions around the country – gathering views so that they can gauge what is happening in the real economy. I was pretty impressed at the process and even more impressed that they wanted me involved!

In addition I remember coming away with great personal respect for both the then current and, as it happens, next Governor.

As it turned out the ‘New economy’ became ‘The economy’. What nobody at that dinner realised (even the Governor, I suspect!) was that the greatest effect on the economy in the following 10 years was actually the actions/failings of the Bank (and banks) itself.

Footnote – I love this Eddie George story

Eddie George once told a conference that there were three types of economist - those who could add up and those who could not.

It was a joke apparently lost on one delegate who asked what the third category was.

Thus proving that economists rarely have a sense of humour either. But I seem to remember at that dinner that ‘Steady Eddie’ had a wicked sense of humour!