Fighting the Last War: Markets, Mortgages and the Bank of England’s Hawkish Misfire

In this episode, Tom and Michael Brown unpack how the Bank of England’s unexpectedly hawkish messaging last week helped ignite a sharp repricing across markets already rattled by the Middle East conflict, pushing swap rates up by nearly a full percentage point, and exposing the UK’s fragile fiscal backdrop. They explore why the Bank may be fighting the wrong inflation battle and what this means for borrowers weighing two‑ versus five‑year fixes, and why both housing market activity and policy decisions are now hostage to fast‑shifting geopolitical and energy‑price risks. ⁠⁠

You can listen to Fighting the Last War: Markets, Mortgages and the Bank of England’s Hawkish Misfire online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Fighting the Last War: Markets, Mortgages and the Bank of England’s Hawkish Misfire is an episode from Intelligence Talks by Anna Ward.

This episode is 38:21 long.

This episode was published on Mar 25, 2026.

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