RADLEY: A team from Radley College, Rupert Harrison and Stephen Tracy, aged 17, and Tristan Wood and James Brown, aged 18, were runners up to Tonbridge School and won £650 for the college in the South East England area final of the Target 2.0 Interest Rate Competition. Radley recommended that base rates should stay at 4.5 per cent, feeling that the current UK economic recovery was unlikely to be strong enough to put upward pressure on inflation at a time when unemployment is rising. Tonbridge argued for a rate cut to 4.25 per cent in March.

Mark Jewell, head of economics at Radley, felt the boys defended their decision well under some tough questioning by the judges, who included MPC member Kate Barker.