[Margaret Pilkington]

The thing is John, if they don't take into account the stuff that families rely on and buy every week(and you don't buy large electrical puchases every week...or car or computers) then the figures become unrepresentative....and do not show a true picture.
I know that we are not eating any more food than normal, but my grocery shopping has gone up far more that 4%...if they said 14% they would be nearer the mark....and I am a thrifty and careful shopper(I make all our food from scratch......no ready meals etc).

It is a bit useless to tell us all that inflation is running at 4%, when we can all see from our outgoings that this figure might just as well have been plucked from thin air.

I have always been of the opinion that statistics can be slewed to make them say what you want them to say....as someone once said 'There are lies, Damned lies, and statistics'.....I don't know who it was, but I reckon they had it in a nutshell.