Gideon Rachman: In theory, I should know Britain's new chancellor of the exchequer, really quite well. George Osborne grew up in the same street as me in London. We went to the same school. He used to be called Gideon, before changing his name to George. I once interviewed him for a job. But the odd thing is, I hardly know the guy. The reason for this is rather humiliating. The chancellor, as I will have to learn to call him, is much younger than me. Eight years younger, to be precise; he has only just turned 39. So the first time I really met George Osborne was when I interviewed him for a job at The Economist in 1997.

I had just been appointed editor of the paper's Britain section and we were looking to recruit a new reporter. Osborne had been working as a political adviser to the Conservative party, which had just gone down to a crashing defeat at the hands of Tony Blair and New Labour. Self-deprecatingly, Osborne explained that his job had been to try to "destroy" Tony Blair - but, as he pointed out, "I obviously didn't do a very good job of it."

Osborne did fine in the interview. But, in retrospect, I rather mishandled it. I don't think I had interviewed anyone for a job before - so it didn't occur to me that it was a bad idea to start by telling the candidate he probably wouldn't get the job. I thought I was just being honest by telling Osborne we wanted somebody with more journalistic experience. But he, understandably, rather bridled at the implication that he was wasting his time.