http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aXthvjgYH3OM
King Likens BOE’s Challenge to Judging ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ By Svenja O’Donnell Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the Monetary Policy Committee will need to be as careful gauging volatile British economic data as the judges of “Strictly Come Dancing.” King, in a speech late yesterday in Exeter, England, likened the task of assessing the economy with that faced by judges on the hit BBC ballroom-dancing show as they grade the footwork of contestants such as boxer Joe Calzaghe and Natalie Cassidy, star of the soap “EastEnders.” “The data are likely to be dancing particularly vigorously” because of an increase in sales tax, a buildup of company inventories and chilly weather, King said. “In judging these dancing data, the MPC will need to be as careful in looking through the occasional random movements as the judges in the opening week of ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’” he then said in an unpublished aside at the end of his remarks. King often uses metaphors in his speeches. Yesterday he referred to comments made a decade ago when he said movements in macroeconomic data “bear a resemblance to old-fashioned disco dancing -- sharp movements in unpredictable directions creating much excitement, accompanied by a good deal of noise.” The governor, an avid fan of Aston Villa soccer club, also employs sports metaphors. He once compared the bank’s policy of steering investors’ interest-rate expectations with a goal scored by Argentina’s Diego Maradona against England in the 1986 soccer World Cup. Chris Hollins, a sports presenter on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Breakfast program, was the victor in last year’s “Strictly Come Dancing” contest after winning the public vote. The show partners celebrities with professional dancers to teach them ballroom routines which they then perform in front of a judging panel. To contact the reporter on this story: Svenja O’Donnell in London at [email protected]. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
