Just when you think the economists are finally improving their batting averages, at least with regard to the setting of interest rates, along comes the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to upset the apple cart.

The MPC's decision this week to advance interest rates by another 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent took the market totally by surprise, a situation investors never like.

What had the economists really thrashing around was the lack of any sound economic basis for the move. In the end it appeared the bank's rate-setting committee got a dose of the jitters over rising house prices, particularly in the south-east. While the recent patchy return to strong growth in house values in Britain has taken place in a different economic environment and to a lesser degree than the suicidal surge of the 1980s, it appears memories at the Bank are vivid.