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In the mildly alarming, if not surprising, news that inflation has jumped to %3.1 last month, I find a small glimmer of humour. A requirement of “the system” is that the Bank of England’s governor sends the government an open letter when this type of thing happens^[1]. In this instance, because he was brought up well by his parents, Gordon Brown^[2] wrote a nice letter back^[3].

I can imagine the scene. Gordon has dictated the letter to a civil servant who has duly typed it up for him. It has then been presented back to Gordon to sign, who, being the busy man he is, signs it with whatever he has in his hand.

Given the look of his signature, I really do wonder what he was doing at the time… perhaps trying very hard to keep the colouring in-between the lines?

^[1]Specifically, it was the fact that the inflation rate was 1% above or below the target rate of 2%.

^[2]Gordon got to respond in his role as Chancellor, not PM-in-waiting.

^[3]The letters are link to from the BBC News article.