On Friday 1st July, Year 12 Economists were fortunate enough to hear from Duncan Mackinnon, a senior figure within the Bank of England, who took time out of his busy schedule to visit the School, and speak to them about a whole range of issues. After catching their attention with a photo of the Bank’s gold vaults, he spent the next 45 minutes discussing issues such as the role of the Bank (such as aiming to control inflation), and financial predictions (including thoughts on economic growth, and inflation). Duncan’s work especially involves bank regulation, so he was able to explain the vital need for such oversight, especially in the context of the 2008 financial crisis. Within these uncertain economic times, such a talk was incredibly timely, and as well as being highly informative in its own right, the talk also had great relevance to the work done in A'Level Economics. Once his talk was completed, Duncan took questions from the students on issues such as Quantitative Easing, the reasons for gold storage, and whether, in hindsight, the Bank could have acted differently to try and limit the rises in inflation now being seen.
We are very grateful to Duncan for taking the time to visit us. The students were extremely positive about the visit, and I am sure it may inspire a few of them to consider a career in finance!
Mr J Barnett, Head of Humanities