Martin Vander Weyer
A Bank of Wisdom
Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State
By Paul Tucker
Princeton University Press 642pp £27
In the run-up to the referendum of June 2016, Michael Gove was confronted by Faisal Islam of Sky News with a long list of organisations that had warned of dire consequences if the UK voted not to remain in the EU. The co-leader of the Vote Leave campaign retorted: ‘I think the people of this country have had enough of experts from organisations with acronyms saying they know what is best.’ Such experts, he opined, ‘are distant, unaccountable and elitist, and have their own interests at heart’.
Near the top of Islam’s list was the Bank of England, whose governor, Mark Carney, has been called in my own magazine, The Spectator, a ‘dark overlord’ of Project Fear – which is the label attached by Leavers to officialdom’s pessimistic consensus. More notoriously, another group of experts, namely three of the most senior judges in the land, were labelled ‘Enemies of the People’ by the Daily Mail for ruling that the government would need the consent of Parliament before triggering Article 50.
The referendum campaign and its aftermath have highlighted the issue at the heart of Unelected Power: namely, the extent to which it is safe for democracies to delegate authority to, and rely on the wisdom of, unelected technocrats. Indeed, arguments around Brexit have brought this question to public
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk