As confessions go, it was hardly the most revelatory. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini admits she has problems with relationships. Sir Philip Green accepts he made a bit of a hash of BHS. Ed Miliband owns up to struggling with bacon sandwiches. They would have all come as more of a surprise than the chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, finally admitting that when it came to forecasting the impact of Brexit they were a couple of alphas short of a full algorithm. Well, thanks Andy. Who knew?
The problem is that Haldane, and more importantly the Bank, is still deflecting the blame. Haldane argues there is a general problem with economic forecasting. There is some truth in that. But more specifically it is the Bank that is getting it wrong – and that reflects an institution which is increasingly out of touch with the economy it is meant to be managing.
It hardly needs repeating that the UK economy has sailed through the vote to leave the EU with hardly any impact at all.
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