Bank's number two tells BBC Bristol: "I don't know"

Charlie Bean, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, has just told BBC Radio Bristol's Ben Prater: "I don't know where rates are going next - and anyone who tells you they do is talking out of somewhere I shouldn't mention on the air."

It's a fairly frank admission, when you think about it. Of course the DG doesn't exactly know what will happen next time the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the BoE meets to fix interest rates. But he meant more than that.

Is the worst of the recession over? We don't know.

Are companies starting to trade better? Some are, some aren't.

Will inflation start pushing up in the winter and so rates will have to go up with it? No idea.

Everything we asked him for a view on, he kept coming back to uncertainty. We just don't know.

People like me probably over-use the phrase "uncharted waters" to describe this current mess. But listening to Charlie Bean, I felt easier, quantitatively easier in fact, about not knowing.

They do know a fair bit, of course. The bank has an agent here, with 3,000 business contacts, who tell him how life is. "Most tell us the economy has bottomed out, the worst may be over," Mr Bean recounts. "But they're unsure where you go from here."

So, if ever there was justification for throwing the floor open to all, here it is.

Do you run a business? Tell us what it's like out there.

Do you have a job? How secure do you and your mates feel.

Do you spend money? Are you feeling confident? Ready to spend again?

The men who run the country's bank happily admit they don't know what's happening. So it's over to you.