October also saw a changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. By which I mean, after more than 30 years, Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England, left the Bank for a teaching post at Harvard. Tucker, who was widely viewed as the likely successor to the dour Lord King, lost out to Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
I was privileged to be invited to the farewell reception at the Bank, hosted by Carney for Tucker. Bank and insurance group chief executives mingled with regulatory grandees, politicians and academics. But the thing that struck me most – as with Bernanke and Yellen – was the difference in style between the host and the guest of honour. Both are obviously prodigiously bright, but there is an informality about Carney that amounts to a huge divergence from the traditional Bank of England culture.
When I introduced myself, addressing the governor as "Mr Carney", he genially corrected me: "It’s Mark."I then remembered the pictures I had seen of him in a British tabloid newspaper, bedecked in lilac shorts and suede loafers, chillaxing at a music festival during the summer.
Tucker always struck me as epitomizing the best of British: engaging, excellent manners and highly educated.