Central bankers on the defensive as weird policy becomes even weirder

Growth is tepid, productivity is poor, and inflation is too low: all is not going according to policymakers' masterplans

Members of the Treasury select committee get the chance to grill the governor of the Bank of England on Tuesday. Mark Carney will make the short journey from Threadneedle Street to Westminster to face questions on the state of the economy. It should be an intriguing contest. The committee's chairman, Andrew Tyrie, will treat the governor with the weary disdain of a headteacher ticking off a pupil for a substandard piece of homework. Carney will answer in sentences so long that MPs may feel the need for a drinks' interval half way through them.

Tyrie deserves to be cheered on, because central banks have had it far too cushy for far too long. It is taken as read that the best way to run an economy is to muscle politicians out of the way and let technocrats run things.