59  As discussed by Morton (2011), this quote is widely attributed to Gandhi but is likely a case of paraphrasing his actual words. Specifically, the PSHE component of the curriculum. https://www.speakers4schools.org 62 These and other initiatives were discussed at the Future Forum hosted by the Bank in Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. 60 61  15  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  15  The Bank has for a long time run a schools competition, Target 2.0. This had many virtues, but diversity was not one of them. In the 16 years the competition ran, independent schools accounted for 43% of the total participants and 56% of the national champions – large multiples of their population share. The Bank’s new film competition, “Bank, Camera, Action” hopes to level that playing field. In its first year, this attracted 106 entries, with 80% of participating schools from the state sector. Conclusion A few months ago, I was giving a talk at a school in one of the poorest towns in the UK – indeed, one of the poorest in the EU. The school had a “Needs Improvement” rating from Ofsted. It had had 50% - that’s five, zero – teacher turnover the previous year. The children attending were from poor backgrounds and had very low academic and career aspirations. I knew this was going to be a tough gig.
Its level of linguistic complexity is 5 years lower than the Inflation Report, making it accessible to around 14 million more people, or around a quarter of the adult population. A third example is the Bank’s flagship publication, the Inflation Report. In November, the Bank for the first time published the Report in three layers: Layer 3 was the usual “50 page, 50 chart” version; Layer 2 was the “1-2 page, 1-2 chart” version; and Layer 1 was the “1 line, 1 chart” version. With a level of complexity more than 6 years below Layer 3, Layers 1 and 2 in principle could reach an extra 21 million people. Early evidence suggests this layering has helped in reaching a broader audience. Website hits on the November Inflation Report were double the average from earlier quarters. These extra hits were entirely accounted for by Layers 1 and 2, while Layer 3 hits were essentially unchanged. This suggests that layering has enabled the MPC to reach a new, wider audience without cannibalising its existing audience. 42  Producing simplified material, like layering, is neither a short cut nor an easy option. Nor is it simply an act of communication. Message simplification is an act of policy. As such, simplified messages need to be agreed and signed-off by policy committees – as were the Layer 1 and 2 messages in the Bank’s November Inflation Report. They are another example of the Marshall McLuhan maxim of the medium becoming the message.