Here is a small heresy. The brouhaha about Barack Obama’s choice for the next chair of the US Federal Reserve is in inverse proportion to the significance of the contest. It really does not matter whether it is Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen. The world – and the American economy – will continue to spin.

Now for a second piece of heterodoxy: Mark Carney’s headline-grabbing monetary policy changes at the Bank of England are much ado about, well, not very much. The new governor’s blueprint for forward guidance on interest rates raises as many questions as it answers. Its impact on the trajectory of the British economy will lie somewhere between negligible and nil.

Central bankers are the new masters of the universe. The mood of the moment says politicians cannot be trusted and commercial bankers are crooks. That leaves central bankers as the repositories of public trust. I have nothing against them. They are too often beguiled by economic theory, but, all in all, they are an intelligent bunch. Many (not all) prize professionalism and public service above fame or fortune.