Many years ago, when I still worked at the Bank of England, I was chatting to a former Bank employee at an evening function in the Court Room (a grand, chandeliered, Turkish-carpeted ballroom). She had recently left the Bank to join a major global management consultancy, so I asked her what her role was. She said she was analysing supply chains. “Gosh, that sounds interesting,” I said, in what was intended to be a dry, ironic tone. She said that