Mark Carney’s marathon metaphor moment: Sports back but it’s just not cricket
We’ve learnt over the past year, in a similar vein to his predecessor, Mark Carney doesn’t need a sporting event to make a sporting reference in his official orations. But yesterday the Bank of England governor had more reason than any other time – as he spoke in Glasgow at the start of the Commonwealth Games.
We’ve had football references, likening recovery to making it through the qualifying rounds of the World Cup and we’ve also had (our personal favourite) canoeing metaphors at a recent Mansion House dinner.
Finally, FINALLY, we’ve got a metaphor that we’re moderately good at – marathons. “The bigger prize is winning the economic marathon by achieving a durable expansion,” he told the crowds. Thank goodness for Paula Radcliffe. This is a race we have actually won before.
Looking back through the tally of Carney’s sporting references, there’s one sport which has thus far remained unused by the Canadian: cricket. Following the fracas surrounding his “banning” of cricket from the bank’s sporting day last month, we’d wager Carney will shoulder arms. Probably for the best given our performance at Lord’s at the weekend.