You're listening to Money Talks from the Economist, our weekly podcast on the market,

the economy and the world of business.

I've matched Nashan Bogue, finance editor at the Economist, and this week it's all about

inflation.

Until very recently, worrying about rising prices had gone out of fashion, a relic of the

1970s, like bell-bottom trousers and leaded petrol.

Now it's bordering on a global obsession.

As new data on inflation from around the world continue to exceed expectations, will

central bankers be able to set the trend?

It was a very close call.

The pressure is rising on Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England.

We spent many hours, we always spent many hours, what we seem to spend even more

many hours this time over it as we should.

Earlier this month, he surprised many by deciding not to raise interest rates.

Yeah, we're in a situation where the calls are close, they're quite hard, but that's

just a reflection of the position we're in.

But this morning, new official figures show that inflation and Britain climbed steeply

in October to 4.2%, it's highest in nearly a decade.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is also determined not to act

too soon.

If you consider the immediate short term, if we were to have any kind of tightening approach

to the current situation, it would actually do more harm than good.

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