Extraordinary Millennium - Euro? For Britain, it's a real banker

Our politicians may be completely incapable of sensible debate about the euro, but we can still lay claim to being a leading nation when it comes to authoritative analysis of the technical aspects.

The Bank of England publishes Practical Issues Arising from the Introduction of the Euro, the first edition of which, back in the spring of 1996, was just 12 pages long and only 200 copies were produced. The most recent edition was 120 pages and had a print-run of 40,000 - and 5,000 were snapped up by overseas readers.

John Townend, deputy director of the Bank, told a recent ICAEW conference that Euro Commissioner Mario Monti regards the publication as "the bible" for preparation across the whole of the euro area - "which was quite satisfying," Townend said, "since we are on the outside - and to the gall of some of our central bank colleagues on the inside".