Veiled hints of mild irritation in Dame Street at the recent suggestion by Bundesbank president Dr Hans Tietmeyer that the central rates of "a single currency" - in other words the pound - might be revalued in the run- up to the final setting of exchange rates.

Asked about the revaluation issue, the central bankers at yesterday's press conference said they would never comment on anybody else's currency. When the Bundesbank president talked about the Italian lira, it had caused problems a few months back, one official commented. However, they said very little about the pound, either, appealing to the principle that "silence is golden" and adding, delphically, that "all will be revealed in the fullness of time". Isn't it always?