After UK inflation again outpaces forecasts, a 13% peak looks optimistic

Analysis: Rate has driven through 10% mark sooner than Bank of England and financial markets expected

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The annual inflation rate has burst through the 10% barrier sooner than the financial markets and the Bank of England expected, but the sharp jump in the cost of living last month is not really that much of a shock.

Periods of double-digit inflation are pretty rare in the UK. In the past 70 years, inflation has been as high as it is currently only three times: during the Korean war in the early 1950s, and after the two oil shocks of the mid- and late 1970s.