Mervyn King has enjoyed many congratulatory farewells ahead of his departure next month as governor of the Bank of England, but maybe MPs could stick to the robust questioning that is their hallmark when he appears in parliament for the last time on Tuesday.
Five questions that he should answer are:
• Should the government press ahead with the privatisation of Royal Bank of Scotland or its break-up?
• Barclays and Nationwide have missed targets for capital – the new so-called leverage ratios – according to the new regulator. What is the deadline for meeting the ratios, is it earlier than the internationally agreed date of 2019?
• Is it inconsistent to want easier credit while imposing tougher lending rules on banks? For the sake of the economy, should we not make it easier to lend, not harder?
• How would you like the MPC's remit to evolve under Mark Carney? Is there a single new policy initiative that your successor could adopt to improve the BoE's management of monetary policy?
• Can you explain how austerity has worked when growth has flatlined for three years, real wages are falling and the debt burden is higher?
