Letter: Manifesto for recovery

Sir: I see. It's crucial we have an independent central bank. And it's also crucial that this independent central bank slashes interest rates immediately.

This is not logical. Either the bank is independent, in which case it sets interest rates. Or it isn't, and doesn't. As the Bundesbank is demonstrating so vividly, an independent central bank and sharp cuts in interest rates may well be mutually incompatible in the current circumstances.

So which is it to be? An independent central bank? Or sharply reduced interest rates? Choosing the former may well rule out the latter.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN MORRISON

London, NW6

22 October