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InflationĀ – that charmless hobgoblin that takes your weekly shopping list, sprinkles it with price shocks, and leaves you wondering whether you accidentally bought gold instead of butter.
This month’s inflation figure is stubbornly high, at 3.8 per cent – and the culprit is clear, if you read the fine print: the Chancellorās policies.
Rachel Reeves raised employersā National Insurance Contributions and nudged the minimum wage upward in what she intended to be seen as a laudable gesture.
But in the real world, businesses – including grocery stores – pass those extra pennies directly on to you.
The price of beef is up 25 per cent; butter 19 per cent; chocolate 15 per cent. And before you ask: yes – the chocolate includes your modest afternoon consolations, now priced like imported jewellery.
Remember last monthās scapegoat? āGood weatherā supposedly pushed up food prices and air fares.
Now, weather is off the hook; itās domestic policy taking the rap.
Itās almost as though the government enjoys pointing the finger at a convenient scapegoat while ordinary families shoulder the burden.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England ponders a change in interest rates, but is unlikely to do anything at all – trusting that relief will come in its own time. And the rest of us suffer the price consequences.
The politicians persist in their theatre. Reeves insists she is ābringing costs downā, in spite of the abundance of evidence to the contrary. Conservatives wag fingers at Labour for āstoking inflation.ā Liberal Democrats call for heroic interventions on energy bills.
And ordinary people, who neither fly to the sun nor lobby in Whitehall, pay the price.
The story is unchanged. The villains swap costumes ā weather, tax, wages ā but the victims remain the same.
Families clutch their shopping receipts as if they were talismans against the unseen forces that govern their wallets.
And the excuse-makers, in Westminster and Whitehall, continue their dance, pretending that rising beef and chocolate are somehow beyond their control.
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Inflation stays high – but we have a new scapegoat
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InflationĀ – that charmless hobgoblin that takes your weekly shopping list, sprinkles it with price shocks, and leaves you wondering whether you accidentally bought gold instead of butter.
This month’s inflation figure is stubbornly high, at 3.8 per cent – and the culprit is clear, if you read the fine print: the Chancellorās policies.
Rachel Reeves raised employersā National Insurance Contributions and nudged the minimum wage upward in what she intended to be seen as a laudable gesture.
But in the real world, businesses – including grocery stores – pass those extra pennies directly on to you.
The price of beef is up 25 per cent; butter 19 per cent; chocolate 15 per cent. And before you ask: yes – the chocolate includes your modest afternoon consolations, now priced like imported jewellery.
Remember last monthās scapegoat? āGood weatherā supposedly pushed up food prices and air fares.
Now, weather is off the hook; itās domestic policy taking the rap.
Itās almost as though the government enjoys pointing the finger at a convenient scapegoat while ordinary families shoulder the burden.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England ponders a change in interest rates, but is unlikely to do anything at all – trusting that relief will come in its own time. And the rest of us suffer the price consequences.
The politicians persist in their theatre. Reeves insists she is ābringing costs downā, in spite of the abundance of evidence to the contrary. Conservatives wag fingers at Labour for āstoking inflation.ā Liberal Democrats call for heroic interventions on energy bills.
And ordinary people, who neither fly to the sun nor lobby in Whitehall, pay the price.
The story is unchanged. The villains swap costumes ā weather, tax, wages ā but the victims remain the same.
Families clutch their shopping receipts as if they were talismans against the unseen forces that govern their wallets.
And the excuse-makers, in Westminster and Whitehall, continue their dance, pretending that rising beef and chocolate are somehow beyond their control.
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