Anthony Hilton: Just how hopeless will the new Governor be?

Another posh dinner on Thursday, this time in the Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, the city where the National Association of Pensions Funds was holding its annual investment conference.

Our table was talking about Mark Carney, the next Governor of the Bank of England, and whether he can possibly live up to the huge weight of expectation which is being piled up on his shoulders even before he gets here.

Not everyone was convinced he could. "I can't decide whether he is Sven-Goran Eriksson or Fabio Capello," mused one of the assembled throng. "Will he beat the Germans 5-1 and then be hopeless? Or will he be hopeless from the start?"