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First up this week, Martin van der Weir.

A sandwich with Andy Holden,

the former Bank of England economist,

now president of British Chambers of Commerce,

is the intellectual equivalent of a lunchtime workout

with an ultra-fit personal trainer,

or so I imagine, having never submitted to the latter experience.

When his BCC role was announced in February, Haldane spoke of a fighting chance that

UK growth would beat expectations for the coming year, but that was before the closure of the strait and the resurgence of global demons.

The purpose of the sandwich was to find out if he had tempered his upbeat tone.

The Iran conflict is, quote, the last thing anyone needed, least of all the UK, he began,

but reasons for optimism remain in the form of private sector balance sheets in rude health

and pent-up personal savings, all capable of fueling productive investment if and when normality resumes.

And we shouldn't forget that we have, quote, one of the most innovative economies on the planet.

Even if weak UK capital markets drive too many good companies into the grasp of private equity and foreign buyers,

and homegrown billion-dollar unicorns are scarce.

Haldane quoted research that says,

...