So, Kitchen Disco, the children’s book by David Cameron’s former speechwriter Clare Foges, with Al Murphy, was written “in a day during a holiday in Gambia after ‘a lovely daydream about fruit jumping out of the bowl and dancing in a nightclub’” (The week in books, Review, 19 November). While I am glad that this engaging book has been given to thousands of reception-age children by BookTrust for their enjoyment, it is naive to claim that “every child has a kitchen, so it is an inclusive story”. The austerity agenda of Foges’ former employer continues to create poverty and homelessness on a scale meaning that thousands of children living in hostels and bed and breakfast accommodation do not have their own kitchens, or fruit, or holidays. That is a story worth telling.

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn’s speeches to the CBI conference

The Aussie sank to US73.22c as traders pushed up the US dollar in the wake of the Republican’s presidential victoryThe Australian dollar has slid to its lowest level against its US counterpart since early June, as a rally in the greenback continued.

Centre for Cities report finds 24% of new graduates in 2014 and 2015 were working in capital within six months of finishingThe challenges faced by the government in tackling the economic dominance of the south of England has been illustrated by a report showing that London is attracting a disproportionate share of graduates.Ahead of Philip Hammond’s first autumn statement this week, the report by thinktank Centre for Cities, published on Monday, found that one in four recent university leavers chose to work in the capital, a brain drain harming the prospects of other cities by depriving them of the skills they need, as the economy shifts towards knowledge-intensive activities. Continue reading...

With little room for manoeuvre, Philip Hammond must find a way to support economy during negotiations to leave EUThe chancellor Philip Hammond will deliver his maiden autumn statement on Wednesday against a backdrop of weaker growth prospects and a large deficit.While room for big giveaways will be limited, Hammond is likely to have some measures up his sleeve to support the economy during the negotiations to leave the EU.Related: Tell us how you might be affected by Philip Hammond's autumn statement Continue reading...

Independent economic watchdog expected to predict post-Brexit UK will have low growth, higher inflation and larger deficitThe government’s independent economic watchdog will tear up its previous forecasts for the UK’s growth prospects as it gives its first official verdict on the outlook for post-Brexit Britain this week.The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to paint a gloomy picture of lower growth, higher inflation and a larger-than-expected deficit as the UK negotiates its way out of the EU. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s autumn statement unlikely to do much for the ‘just about managing’ families who voted keenly for BrexitWelcome to Jamland. Formerly known as the United Kingdom, Jamland is where the Jams live.They were once known as the squeezed middle. They have also been dubbed the people who just get on with it. Now, courtesy of Theresa May, there is a new moniker for those who are struggling to get by – the families who are “just about managing”.Related: Philip Hammond dashes hopes of big windfalls for struggling familiesRelated: The Observer view on the autumn statement | Observer editorial Continue reading...

Fayez al-Serraj’s administration faces credibility crisis over row with central bank on how to revive the economyThe government of near-bankrupt Libya faces the threat of a forced devaluation of the country’s currency and an end to fuel subsidies, in a move that could spark a wave of popular anger and the fall of the teetering UN-backed administration in Tripoli.The credibility of Fayez al-Serraj’s government of national accord (GNA) is waning despite the support of the US, France, Italy and the UK, and its leadership has been unable to unite the country.Related: Libya crisis talks held in London as economy 'nears collapse' Continue reading...

The American ‘shopping event’ that has travelled to Britain is coming around again. But our bouts of fisticuffs at the tills don’t compare with theirsThey say that what starts in the US inevitably comes to the UK (burger joints, crazy clowns and syphilis are oft-cited examples). But we don’t always embrace these gifts as enthusiastically as the Americans.Take Black Friday, the US equivalent to our Boxing Day sales, which takes place the day after Thanksgiving and is with us again this week. Desperate retailers have tried to introduce something similar here – only with limited success. Continue reading...

Learning patriotism from Michael Gove’s syllabus is all very well: but basic GCSE failures are preventing thousands from taking up opportunitiesMichael Gove’s inspiration for including Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade in the new English GCSE syllabus is becoming clearer every day.Gove, one of Vote Leave’s architects, understands the spirit running through British history that can result in episodes like Lord Cardigan’s fatal Crimean attack, or the evacuation of Dunkirk in the second world war, being lauded as great episodes in history. Continue reading...

John Key at Apec summit jokes ‘cosmetic changes’ could appease US president-elect over sweeping trade dealThe threatened TPP trade pact could be rebadged as the “Trump Pacific Partnership” to satisfy the US president-elect who has vowed to scrap it, New Zealand’s prime minister has said.John Key suggested “cosmetic changes” to the Trans-Pacific Partnership so that the US could be kept on board under Donald Trump, who has attacked free trade deals.Related: Malcolm Turnbull urges patience on refugee resettlement deal with MalaysiaRelated: John McCain: 'I don't give a damn – no waterboarding' under Trump Continue reading...

Unequal distribution of the fruits of a globalised economy led to the crash of 2008 and will inevitably bring further catastropheWill Hutton argues passionately and (for me) convincingly that free trade makes for greater wealth creation and protectionism will cause growth to slow down (“Trade is the lifeblood of humanity”, Comment). He’s obviously right; the move towards increasing global trade has created wealth, especially in China, and we should be glad that it has raised millions of people out of poverty.However, he doesn’t acknowledge the problem of distributing the wealth thus created. The world is awash with money but it has been very unequally distributed. Possession of so much money by people and institutions who can’t possibly use it has created serious instability. Continue reading...

Tax and benefit changes since 2010 have increased equality gapWomen will have shouldered 85% of the burden of the government’s changes to the tax and benefits system by 2020, according to figures published ahead of next week’s autumn statement.The analysis, by independent thinktank the Women’s Budget Group, shows that tax and benefit changes since 2010 will have hit women’s incomes twice as hard as men by 2020. Women will be £1,003 a year worse off by 2020 on average; for men, this figure is £555.Related: Equal Pay Day: how the UK's gender gap in earnings has shifted over the years Continue reading...

We can’t bank on him being a one-term president. In fact growth could actually accelerate for a couple of years before the real effects kick inNovember 2020: the results of the US presidential election are in. The Democrat candidate, Elizabeth Warren, fought bravely but the outcome was never really in doubt. With the economy booming, Donald Trump is returned to the White House in a landslide. His pitch to voters has been simple: I kept my promise. America is great again.For Trump’s opponents, this is the nightmare scenario. Still stunned by Hillary Clinton’s defeat, they have taken comfort from their belief that the billionaire property tycoon will prove to be a one-term president – exposed as a dangerous charlatan as soon as he takes office. This may, indeed, prove to be the case. Trumponomics is by no means a fully thought-through programme. The inconsistencies are obvious, as are the dangers. It could all go horribly wrong. But Trump may well have won a second term by the time it does. Continue reading...

The country’s biggest lender took cash away from savers to survive in 2013. Now, remarkably, Bank of Cyprus is hoping to float in LondonOnly three years ago, Bank of Cyprus was on the critical list. It had been forced – under the terms of a €10bn bailout of the country – to seize cash from its savers and was being kept afloat by billions of euros pumped in from the central bank.But, in a story of revival that mirrors the recovery in the Cypriot economy, the bank is now eyeing a listing in London and outlining plans to expand in the UK. Continue reading...

Birmingham’s Christmas stalls are thriving but the future looks uncertain for many German firms trading in BritainBirmingham’s Christmas market is thriving. Crowds of people are drinking glühwein, eating bratwurst and enjoying the traditional atmosphere of the kind found at this time of year in Dresden, Nuremberg or Leipzig.

Analysts report 18% increase in wholesale price of pork as food manufacturers and retailers face commodity price swings and weak sterling after Brexit votePigs in blankets might have to be rationed round the Christmas dinner table next month after the price of pork hit a two-year high.Analysts are reporting an 18% increase in the wholesale price of pork, with the surge expected to have a knock-on effect on the price of bacon and sausages in supermarkets in the coming weeks.Related: Lighter way to enjoy Maltesers? Mars shrinks sharing bags by 15% Continue reading...

The president of the central bank has signalled monetary support will persist amid a fragile eurozone recovery and weak inflationary pressure

If the Fed becomes too hawkish too soon, it will undermine the goal of creating jobs and boosting blue-collar incomesWhen Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election, the market’s immediate negative response was to be expected. But by the next day, the market’s downward turn had already reversed itself.US equities and bond yields rallied after Trump delivered a victory speech that seemed to signal that he was tacking to the centre, which investors had originally expected him to do this summer, after he won the Republican nomination and entered the general election campaign.Related: Joseph Stiglitz: what the US economy needs from Donald TrumpRelated: Dictators around the world will delight in Trump’s victory | Brian Klaas Continue reading...

Ben Broadbent also stresses Bank will carefully balance controlling inflation and supporting economy in futureA long spell of ultra-low interest rates has not driven a rise in inequality in the UK, the deputy governor of the Bank of England has said, rebuffing criticism that central bank policy had hurt some households.Ben Broadbent also reinforced the recent message from the Bank that it would tread carefully in setting interest rates over the coming months as it deals with a trade-off between keeping inflation in check and supporting the economy after the Brexit vote.Related: Ed Balls: Bank of England's independence should be reined in Continue reading...

Chancellor set to reveal grim economic forecasts next Wednesday as Office for Budget Responsibility prepares to issue its first projections of Brexit vote’s impact

Banco de México raises key interest rates by 0.5% as it warns global economy has become ‘more complex’ after Donald Trump’s election as US presidentMexico’s central bank raised interest rates on Thursday in an attempt to shore up the country’s currency, which has collapsed following Donald Trump’s election as US president.

Economists warn Philip Hammond over ignoring infrastructure needs amid £100bn black hole in financesThe chancellor, Philip Hammond, should limit the impact of the Brexit vote on the economy by excluding public investment spending from his deficit reduction plans in his autumn statement next week, economists say.As the Treasury finalised tax and spending plans, economists warned that a black hole in government finances of more than £100bn could deter the chancellor from boosting infrastructure spending and leave the economy to cope with severe headwinds without extra support.Related: The ‘just about managing’ won’t forgive May if she botches Brexit | Andrew RawnsleyRelated: UK construction at weakest level for four years as housebuilding stalls Continue reading...

Trump’s svengali, Steve Bannon, saw Hindu nationalism as part of a ‘great revolt’. The way things are going, the resistance might begin at home

London likely to remain home of £460tn-a-year business, according to analysis by ratings agency S&POne of the City’s most prized businesses – the way that financial products priced in euros are processed – will not be lost to the remaining members of the European Union as a result of Brexit, according to the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.The costs associated with moving the clearing of complex financial instruments to another financial centre means London is likely to remain the home of the £460tn-a-year business, S&P said. Continue reading...

Former Shadow chancellor and Strictly Come Dancing contestant says better political oversight needed to address ‘popular discontent’ against central banks

Students can go through their entire degree without being asked to express an opinion. Thankfully, things are slowly beginning to changeSterling was the worst performing currency in the world last month. An employment tribunal ruled against Uber drivers being classified as self-employed. October brought with it the first GDP figures since the Brexit vote, which were better than expected. All while the ratings agency Moody’s threatened to downgrade Britain’s credit status if it leaves the European single market.You would think that the next generation of economists were ready with a range of models and tools to analyse and make sense of these events. But the limitations of a standard undergraduate economics education are such that few can honestly say they are prepared for the task.Related: Economics students aim to tear up free-market syllabus Continue reading...

Consumers remain defiant despite Brexit uncertainty and inflation fears as sales grow at fastest annual pace for 14 yearsA surprise leap in retail sales volumes last month has boosted hopes the UK economy will end the year on a high note, as consumers continue to shrug off the shock of the Brexit vote.A rush to buy winter clothes and buoyant Halloween trade for supermarkets helped UK retail sales grow at the fastest annual pace for 14 years in October, according to official figures.Related: Black Friday warning as report finds only half of offers are the real deal Continue reading...

Donald Trump got elected because the liberal elite didn’t care enough about the gap between rich and poorAccording to the socialist academic Walter Benn Michaels, the reason that rich western liberals talk so much about racism and sexism is so they don’t have to talk so much about economic inequality. He published The Trouble with Diversity exactly a decade ago, but it feels like a tract for our times, perfectly suited as a provocation to thought as we approach the summing up of liberalism’s great annus horribilis.Rich western liberals, Michaels argues, don’t want to challenge the economic structures that produce inequality because that might seriously impact on their own standing and wealth. Instead they insist on the elite being as diverse as the poor, as a way to justify the very existence of the elite. So, as long as the top class at Harvard shows a proportionate distribution of social diversity, one can happily ignore the fact that all the students come from money. Moreover, it’s not just that this focus on diversity distracts from the deeper issue of economic inequality. It’s worse, because the very diversity of the elite is asserted as justification for the non-discriminatory nature of capitalism. Diversity has become the moral alibi of neoliberal economics. Continue reading...

Not necessarily … global trade growth has been slowing for years, down to China’s economic deceleration and checks on riskier international lendingDoes Donald Trump’s election as US president mean that globalisation is dead, or are reports of the process’ demise greatly exaggerated? If globalisation is only partly incapacitated, not terminally ill, should we worry? How much will slower trade growth, now in the offing, matter for the global economy?World trade growth would be slowing down, even without Trump in office. Its growth was already flat in the first quarter of 2016, and it fell by nearly 1% in the second quarter. This continues a prior trend: since 2010, global trade has grown at an annual rate of barely 2%. Together with the fact that worldwide production of goods and services has been rising by more than 3%, this means that the trade-to-GDP ratio has been falling, in contrast to its steady upward march in earlier years.Related: Joseph Stiglitz: what the US economy needs from Donald Trump Continue reading...

Chair Janet Yellen says interest rates could go up ‘relatively soon’ as Donald Trump’s election has caused no significant change in outlook for US growthThe Federal Reserve chairwoman, Janet Yellen, said interest rates could rise “relatively soon” in her first public comments since the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.

US president and German chancellor have argued for US-EU trade deal and called for continued transatlantic cooperationRelated: Germany daunted by great expectations as Obama passes baton to MerkelBarack Obama is meeting Angela Merkel in Berlin to talk about Russian sanctions, the fight against Islamic State and the future of the EU-US trade agreement in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election victory. Continue reading...

A further £30-a-week cut to disability benefits will drive even more people into poverty, yet still the Tories maintain their defensive, Scrooge-like approachPoliticians across the spectrum tell me of their growing concerns about the way national and local government treats disabled people and the negative effects this has on our culture. Some of those politicians will be speaking in parliament today about the government’s plans to further cut benefits from April for some disabled adults who are unable to work, due to disability or a long-term health condition. The £30-a-week cut will result in someone on an income of approximately £5,000 having to live on £3,500 a year instead. It will be nothing short of devastating.Earlier this month the government extolled the virtues of paid employment for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions, and how it plans to help more of them get jobs. We would all applaud that, as we would their pledge to consult disabled people before deciding on how to do it. All good so far, but reflecting on the government’s recent record on disability, we should proceed with great caution.When you’re poor, the effects are frightening and energy sappingRelated: Our disabled community is suffering. Time to act on the UN report, not reject it | Katharine Quarmby Continue reading...

Bessie has been hit by a succession of cruel blows by the DWP. She even ended up pawning her inherited jewellery just to eat and stay warmWhen a UN inquiry ruled last week that Britain’s austerity policies amount to a “systematic violation” of disabled people’s rights, it was talking about people like Bessie.Bessie, 51, has agoraphobia, Asperger’s and complex mental health problems, and for the last three-and-a-half years she’s lived the reality of Conservative cuts. First came the bedroom tax, taking with it £12 a week. Then she was told her lifetime disability benefit would be scrapped. And now, as the latest cruel blow, Bessie – who’s received out-of-work sickness benefits since 2012 – has been declared “fit for work”. “You get over one thing and then another hits,” she says quietly. “It’s horrendous.”Related: UK austerity policies 'amount to violations of disabled people's rights'You get over one thing and then another hits. It’s horrendous. Continue reading...

In a drive to see human contentment guide policymaking, a research centre in Bristol has found a way to score cities by their residents’ wellbeing. In a place which is home to some of England’s poorest areas, politicians are listeningIf there is one experience every citizen of Bristol knows well, it is the misery of trudging, sodden and panting, up a steep hill as the rain pours down on you. No word captures the feeling of grumbling discontent it inspires, and few would be foolish enough to put a number on it.

Archbishop of Canterbury among leading figures joining two-year study by left-leaning Institute for Public Policy ResearchThe archbishop of Canterbury will spend the next two years as part of a commission launched by a left-leaning thinktank that aims to rewrite the rules for Britain’s post-Brexit economy.Justin Welby will join other leading figures including the general secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady, and the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Sir Charlie Mayfield, on the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) programme that will seek remedies for six key UK weaknesses. Continue reading...

US president and German chancellor write joint article stressing importance of partnership on issues such as climate change and terrorismOutgoing US president, Barack Obama, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have made an appeal for continued cooperation between the US and the European Union on climate change, anti-terror measures as well as a transatlantic trade deal during Donald Trump’s presidency.In a joint op-ed published in German weekly Wirtschaftswoche on the eve of the president’s last European visit in office, the two leaders argue that while the world is at a crossroads, “the future is already happening and there will not be a return to a world before globalisation”.Related: Obama calls for 'course correction' to share spoils of globalisation Continue reading...

Too many employees are no longer protected by a legal system designed for a different ageOur report that a well-qualified academic once earned so little on his casual contract that he had to supplement it with a job as a refuse collector is confirmation that precarious work has metastasised from unskilled or elementary-level jobs to reach parts of the economy once considered the epitome of security. According to analysis of the official figures by the University and College Union, more than half of academics in Britain’s universities, where students are paying £9,000 a year in fees, are employed on temporary or insecure contracts. They are recruits to a burgeoning class of workers, many of them described as self-employed, that make up the “just about managing”. Ranging from agency workers in warehouses and care assistants to the top-grade professions, these are the people who Theresa May has pledged to put at the heart of her response to the Brexit revolt.Related: Universities accused of 'importing Sports Direct model' for lecturers' payRelated: More than 7m Britons now in precarious employment Continue reading...

George Monbiot concludes that, in response to the crisis that lies behind Brexit and Trump, what we need is “a new story of what it is to be a human in the 21st century” (The deep story beneath Trump’s triumph, 14 November). What we actually need is a revolution in our institutions of learning.In order to solve the grave global problems we face – climate change, population growth, extinction of species, war, inequality and the rest – we need governments to act appropriately. But governments are unlikely to be much more enlightened than electorates. Hence we require the public to have a good understanding of what our problems are, and what we need to do about them. That in turn requires that universities are devoted to intelligent public education about our problems and how to solve them. At present universities, devoted primarily to the pursuit of knowledge, fail disastrously to do what is required. Continue reading...

Britain’s jobless rate has dropped to a new 11-year low, but the number of people receiving unemployment benefit has risen by almost 10,000

Study will put pressure on Philip Hammond to boost spending across public and private sectors in autumn statementBritain ranks among the worst performers in the developed world for spending on new technology, industrial machinery and transport equipment, according to a study by the TUC of investment spending in the public and private sectors.The UK came 34th out of the 34 members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) for spending on transport equipment.Related: UK slowdown will give chancellor little scope for tax cuts, says PwC Continue reading...

Chancellor gets surprise boost as UK inflation rate dips to 0.9% but analysts expect cost of living to climb as rising costs feed through to consumersPhilip Hammond was on Tuesday being urged to ignore a small and unexpected fall in inflation and use next week’s autumn statement to protect Britain’s poorest families from an expected sharp rise in the cost of living in 2017.The chancellor was provided with a boost ahead of his first set-piece occasion on November 23 when cheaper clothes and a smaller increase in university tuition fees meant the annual increase in the cost of living as measured by the consumer prices index fell from 1% to 0.9%.Related: UK inflation rate drops to 0.9% – business live Continue reading...

BoE governor says central banks aren’t solely responsible for rising inequality and record low interest rates, as he insists he’ll leave in 2019

Once bitten, twice shy is the phrase that comes to mind as the Bank of England governor appears before MPsThe governor of the Bank of England took a lot of flak during the EU referendum campaign for forecasting an economic downturn in the event of a Brexit vote, so he was hellbent on giving away as little information as possible at his latest appearance before the Treasury select committee. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.“I may be a bit thick,” said the Conservative Kit Malthouse, a newcomer to the committee, “but can you explain what exactly forward guidance is?” Continue reading...

Sean Barrett calls on government of Enda Kenny to support France’s attempts to win concessions from Brussels to stop a ‘Frexit’Ireland should be drawing up contingency plans for the EU unravelling after Brexit and a possible French departure, an economic adviser to successive Irish governments has said.Dr Sean Barrett urged Enda Kenny’s administration in Dublin to strongly back any French attempt to gain more concessions from Brussels to prevent a possible “Frexit”.

Too many Americans feel left behind by globalisation. But Trump is unlikely to pursue the agenda his voters need. This is what he should doDonald Trump’s astonishing victory in the US presidential election has made one thing abundantly clear: too many Americans – particularly white male Americans – feel left behind. It is not just a feeling, it can be seen in the data no less clearly than in their anger. And, as I have argued repeatedly, an economic system that doesn’t deliver for large parts of the population is a failed economic system. So what should President-elect Trump do about it?Over the past third of a century, the rules of America’s economic system have been rewritten in ways that serve a few at the top, while harming the economy as a whole, and especially the bottom 80%. The irony of Trump’s victory is that it was the Republican party he now leads that pushed for extreme globalisation and against the policy frameworks that would have mitigated the trauma associated with it. But history matters: China and India are now integrated into the global economy. Besides, technology has been advancing so fast that the number of jobs globally in manufacturing is declining.Related: Trumpism could be a solution to the crisis of neoliberalismRelated: The Oval Office will tame President Donald Trump Continue reading...

There is Keynesian merit in Trump’s policies which challenge the neoliberal obsession with deficits and debt reduction. Liberals need to question and refine the plan, not dismiss it as ignorant ravingsThe Republican establishment has gone into overdrive to present President-elect Donald Trump as a guarantor of continuity. Of course, he is nothing of the sort. He campaigned against the political establishment, and, as he told a pre-election rally, a victory for him would be a “Brexit plus, plus, plus”. With two political earthquakes within months of each other, and more sure to follow, we may well agree with the verdict of France’s ambassador to the United States: the world as we know it “is crumbling before our eyes”.The last time this seemed to be happening was the era of the two world wars, 1914 to 1945. The sense then of a “crumbling” world was captured by WB Yeats’s 1919 poem The Second Coming: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” With the traditional institutions of rule thoroughly discredited by the war, the vacuum of legitimacy would be filled by powerful demagogues and populist dictatorships: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/are full of passionate intensity.” Oswald Spengler had the same idea in his Decline of the West, published in 1918.Related: We are living in a depression - that's why Trump took the White HouseThe second coming of liberalism represented by Roosevelt, Keynes, and the founders of the European Union has been destroyed by the economics of globalisation: the pursuit of an ideal equilibrium through the free movement of goods, capital, and labour, with its conjoined tolerance of financial criminality, obscenely lavish rewards for a few, high levels of unemployment and underemployment, and curtailment of the state’s role in welfare provision. The resulting inequality of economic outcomes strips away the democratic veil that hides from the majority of citizens the true workings of power.Related: Neoliberalism: the deep story that lies beneath Donald Trump’s triumph | George Monbiot Continue reading...

Look carefully and it is clear that rapacious capitalism has all of us - not just the working class - in its sightsAt least now you know who to blame. Since Brexit and especially after Donald Trump, the quack analysts have been out in force, holding aloft their quack explanations. It is apparently all the fault of the white working classes. They got left behind and cast aside in the past two decades of globalisation – now they’re making the rest of us pay.Related: No politician can keep a promise to bring back jobs – especially not Donald Trump Continue reading...

Annual review of the Australian economy also criticises rise in underemployment and longer-term unemploymentThe Australian economy could expect a stronger performance if the recent improvement in the terms of trade boosts business confidence and unlocks investment, the International Monetary Fund said.The IMF said Australia’s economic performance had remained remarkable compared with other countries, but warns there was a downside risk to the outlook if investment remained subdued should company profits remain under pressure for longer.Related: Harping on about economic growth makes politicians seem out of touch | Greg Jericho Continue reading...

Views divided over decision by Office for National Statistics to shift focus to CPIH, which includes housing costsIn the midst of all the market turmoil following Donald Trump’s US election victory last week, the UK’s Office for National Statistics announced an important change in how it publishes inflation numbers – and not everyone is happy.From March next year, statisticians will drop their focus on the consumer prices index (CPI) in favour of CPIH, which seeks to measure the housing costs of owner-occupiers.Statement on the future of consumer price #inflation statistics in the UK https://t.co/esKX9h9yFp Continue reading...