Andrew Sentance, whose term on the Monetary Policy Committee expired last year, described "the current phase of disappointing growth and volatility" as "the new normal", at the Institute of Economic Affairs' annual conference on Thursday. His comments came as another survey pointed to a slow recovery in the nation's fortunes this year and the European Commission held its growth forecast for the UK in 2012 steady at 0.6pc, while downgrading much of Europe. Mr Sentance argued that in 2007 Britain came to the end of its second period of "long expansion" since the Second World War and, like in the 1970s, is in the midst ... (full story)