David Miles makes a fair job of deflating bubble hype

Outlook

Bravo to the outgoing Monetary Policy Committee member David Miles for calmly deflating a somewhat dramatic prognosis on the BBC about price bubbles in the bond market.

Yes, the pebble-specced Bank man said, interest rates will rise soon, but in tiny increments to a “new normal” some way below the pre-crash averages of around 5 per cent. The increases should be slow enough gently to deflate asset bubbles with relatively little pain. And we should embrace these tiny rate rises as a welcome sign that our economy is on the mend. In other words: don’t panic.