Inflation, the Cost of Living, Really Useful Knowledge & a General Election
Really Useful Knowledge was a term and a practice used by radicals in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. It set to counter the ‘useful’ or in reality ‘really useless’ knowledge that came from official circles. A focus might be on wages and who actually created wealth, how to shift the balance of wealth from the rich and an understanding of how the economy really worked for the few not the many.
The announcement of a headline inflation figure for the UK of 2.3% on 21st May certainly deserves scrutiny with a focus on really useful knowledge.
It is close to the Government’s 2% target and much lower than the 10%+ inflation of 2023. However even the Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was careful not to cheer too much. )nnouncing a General Election for 4th July Rishi Sunak noted that things remained difficult for many people (although not him and his partner whose wealth increased by well over £100m in the last year)
Headline inflation of course is an annualised figure. Energy prices which have rocketed have started to fall a bit, even if much higher than 2022. That reduces inflation but not really the cost of people’s energy bills.
For both renters and mortgage payers costs remain high largely a legacy of the brief Truss era.
Meanwhile in areas like eating out and bars the inflation rate is at 5.9%. That impacts on how often people go out to eat and drink and subsequently on employment in the services sector.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak is right to argue that: “Prices are still going up. Food and energy bills are much higher than a couple of years ago. And many are being hit by soaring mortgage repayments,”
Crucially while wages have risen for many they are still not back at 2021 levels. In calling the Election Sunak obviously thinks that will remain the case.
That leaves Labour to focus on things getting better. It doesn’t need to be and certainly wont be a revolution but just saying that not much can be done will lead to a Labour victory rather than the landslide the last 14 Tory years very much deserves
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