mervyn king : the new inflation target speech by mr mervyn king, governor of the bank of england, at the annual birmingham forward / cbi business luncheon, birmingham, 20 january 2004. * * * i have always wanted to perform at villa park. now is my chance. economists at villa park are not as unusual a sight as you might think. it is not well known that john maynard keynes also came to villa park. in september 1913 keynes was visiting birmingham and decided to see the match of the day between the two top teams in the country - aston villa and blackburn rovers. on the following day, keynes wrote to duncan grant1 : “ there has been some amusement here, but mixed up with a good deal of boredom. birmingham has a very definite character. i went yesterday with 40, 000 other people to one of the peak football matches. the scene was very much as i imagine the coliseum. the ground is built on the same model - an immense oval rising all round tier above tier in about 50 rows so far as i could count. the crowd maintained a dull roar nearly all the time, rising into a frenzy of excitement and rage when the slightest thing happened. the match was between the two principal “ league ” teams of england. the local people were beaten by a team from lancashire, who had, so i was told, ‘ the best right wing in england, and the most expensive ’ ”. sadly, as keynes recorded, aston villa lost 3 - 1 and finished that season as runners - up to blackburn. it is unclear whether keynes ever again visited a football ground, and there must be a real possibility that, for him, villa park was the sum total of his football experience. in later years some of keynes ’ s disciples forgot not only his connection with villa park but also his view that price stability was a necessary condition for a successful economy. tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of the death of lenin, and it was to lenin that keynes attributed the remark : “ the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. by a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens ”. after doing their best to test this proposition, successive british governments have committed themselves to stable and low inflation. and for the past decade, inflation has ceased to be a dominant consideration in the economic decisions of families and businesses. that has been achieved by aiming at a

‘ let crypto burn : just say no to legitimacy - inferring regulation ’ – ft alphaville ( 17. 11. 2022 ) 5. see the discussion of the potential risks and benefits in cunliffe ( 2022 ) : ‘ innovation in post trade services opportunities, risks and the role for the public sector ’. 6. financial services and markets bill – articles 21 and 22. 7. the banking act 2009 provides the statutory basis for the bank ’ s oversight of payment systems. it allows hm treasury to recognise systems for supervision by the bank of england as part of the bank ’ s objective to maintain uk financial stability. 8. bank of england record of the financial policy committee meeting 13 december 2019. 9. bank of england record of the financial policy committee meeting 24 march 2022. sir jon cunliffe deputy governor, financial stability ©2022 bank of england