Fall off my chair in amazement...

The Bank of England actually doing its job and trying to keep a lid on inflation instead of slashing interest rates in a futile bid to prop up a doomed property bubble?

Three cheers for the King!

dan, londonshire,

Paul in Coventry, even if inflation rose to 3% or even 4% it cannot be described as "high inflation" by any standards or objective historical perspective. A lesser evil would be stagflation, better for our exports and balance of payments to have a pound which is competitively valued not kept artificially high by holding interest rates where we seek to attract "hot money" to underpin our performance.

Alastair, Rye, East Sussex

Richard in Horley, the high inflation we are experiening is a symptom of Sterling's weakness. Rate-cutting only makes it weaker. With the UK dependent on food and fuel imports, we cannot afford to allow Sterling to slide even further just on the rumour mill of rate cuts. King must now be realising that no-one believes the CPI figure and that allowing inflation to rise any higher will itself create a recession as industries suffer with the cost

Paul, Coventry,

As in previous recessions, the UK demonstrates a remarkable ability to power-dive into disaster. As in previous recessions, the excuse is that the early symptoms are a necessary medicine for an overheated economy. Remember "if it isn't hurting, it isn't working"? As in previous recessions, corrective action is only taken late and with much hand-wringing and protestation that the blindingly obvious was actually invisible.

The UK economy is not sufficiently compartmentalised to remain unaffected by the US crunch. The inflation King talks about is clearly an artefact of higher energy and credit costs, not consumerism. Protecting the economy against inflation now is like worrying about a cold snap while Rome burns.

Richard, Horley,

The Bank of England and taxpayers money should not be used to bail out banks who have advanced credit such as cov-lite loans and 100%plus mortgages and consumers who have binged on the debt that has been offered to them. There needs to be a recession which will have its own effect on inflation - people keep saying we must do everything to avoid a recession but in reality, they are a necessary part of the business cycle as they flush out those who have been swimming naked (to paraphrase Warren Buffett).

Alex, Mayfair,

Well done BoE!!!

The BoE should keep its powder dry for worse days to come.

Costas, Cyprus,

Fiddling while Rome burns.

Zak, London, UK

BOE is not decisive in their action while the Fed is.

They will eventually end up holding the ball like in case of Nothern Rock.The only difference is that it will be ten times the size.
If at the current time, they do not do something quickly, everything will fall apart like a pack of cards. They are welcome to look for long term solutions but meanwhile please think of the common man and reduce their cost of borrowing in a debt driven economy.
It is alright for the heftily paid executives to do armchair brooding but it is difficult for the rest to make two ends meet.
Many are in risk of losing their home and the equity therein because of this indecisive dilly dallying.

Kirit Lakhani, Leicester, United Kingdom

Now will the BoE at least have the decency to admit that its two recent rate cuts, which have led to a run on the pound, were a mistake.

Paul, Coventry,

With confidance in our banking system falling by the day, we will soon be hiding our money under the mattress!
There apears to be little in the way of positive movement from any of the financial and/or government authorities.

Ken, Orpington, Kent