Politicians and political commentators are eager to focus on the consequences of tax changes - or constitution altering deals - on a household's income, not averse to seizing the initiative in debate on sums on the order of a few hundred pounds per year. And they should be. These few hundreds can be very important in personal budgeting, and in significantly improving or diminishing the standard of living for those most vulnerable in society. It's also a convenient vehicle for outlining key ideological differences between parties and describing to the electorate the party's vision for the distribution of responsibilities among society and the role the state should take. This seemingly stands in great contrast to matters like measuring inflation, which one might assume is devoid of areas of debate. Distinctions between RPI, CPI, and CPIh are not matters of great public concern, because it seems unreasonable to suggest that these distinctions are being exploited for pol...
A collection of often belated reactions to developments in UK politics. Written by Steven Rose and kindly edited by Ele Saltmarsh and Ewan Hill Norris.