Originally Posted by entwisi (Post 918539)

My sister is currently over from France ( She's lived there ~ 18 years now) and commented that food is much cheaper and public transport horrendously more expensive. Electrical goods appear cheaper but obviously Wine much dearer(although beer is similar).

IMHO some prices have gone up but some have dropped, electricals are always a hard point to use in discussion of inflation as from one year to the next due to teh fact that teh prices stay teh same but you just get more for your money... e.g. TVs are still around 2-500 quid, but you now get Full HD, LCDs with internet access etc built in where as 10 years ago the prices were similar but you were probably getting a old style CRT.... ditto PCs, prices stay stable, specs go up.

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 918586)

John, I think he might have meant between £200 and £500.

It is the things like Bread, milk, butter etc that are going up in leaps and bounds...and the things that don't appear to have risen in price have shrunk in size.......200grms of cheese in a pack that used to be 300 grms...which is a price rise, a hidden one.

I never believe the figures that any government put out...they are invariably massaged in some way to make the current incumbents look good, rather that to inform the general public. Just a sound bite.......of no earthly value.

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 918636)

Isn't it a government manipulated agency John?

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 918640)

Hmmm, maybe it is supposed to be free of government influence, but I am dubious to say the least.
Yes John, I knew who published the figures you just posted a few minutes before me......I have more in me head than mucky water.

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington (Post 918643)

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.