Just like Christmas dinners, monetary policy meetings at central banks are often pictured as gatherings full of suspense, conflict and heated debates. Indeed, the decision on whether to raise interest rates after a period of cheap money has traditionally sparked heartfelt disagreement, and did so again at the Bank of England’s August policy meeting, minutes of the session revealed Wednesday. On this occasion, two members of the bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty, broke ranks to call for raising the bank’s benchmark interest rate to 0.75% from the current record-low of 0.5%. ... (full story)