Welcome to zombie Britain Mr Carney

On July 1, Canadian Mark Carney took his seat as the 120th governor of the Bank of England and the Old Lady’s first foreign governor in its 319-year history.

He arrives at a time when the macro data is improving, the economy is seemingly heading in the right direction.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that he will find a household sector riddled with debt and overly leveraged towards a housing market that appears to be overvalued; a hawkish and wobbly coalition government struggling to rein in the nation’s public deficit; a corporate sector refusing to invest, with some parts surviving only thanks to low interest rates; and a banking system that is partly functioning, undercapitalized, and lacks competition.