Inflation once again

THOSE of a certain age will remember when inflation was just a fact of life, and not a major talking point.

But unfortunately the word is back on everyone’s lips this week, with reports of 30-year-highs in fuel prices, and the possibility of two interest rate hikes this year.

One commentator raised a few eyebrows at the weekend when she suggested double-digit inflation was not impossible, in the short-term.

Anyone who recently has received an electricity bill, filled up their oil tanks, or paid a visit to their local petrol station, will have the hard evidence of the rising cost of living.

But politicians offering everyone – from those on the breadline to those with comfortable incomes and even the super-wealthy – a stipend towards their electricity bills seems like a knee-jerk reaction and makes little fiscal sense.

And government politicians telling people on that same breadline to simply shop around does nothing to instil any confidence in that government, either.