The rise and fall of inflation: tracking the concerns of MPs
There are all sorts of oddities and curiosities to be found in old Parliamentary debates, including the occasion during the Second World War when MPs took time out from debating the war to debate polling methodologies (see my book, Polling UnPacked for more on that).
But there’s also plenty of interest to be found in the trends in word usage too, as shown by the rise, fall and possible rise again of uses of the word ‘inflation’ in the House of Commons:
Graph from the excellent Hansard at Huddersfield site.
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For those that lived through the 1970s the present situation is concerning. The oil price shock of 2022 and the secondary banking scandal that produced the phrase ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’ seems all to close to what is happening in the relationship between the world economy and the government here. It is going to be interesting next winter if interest rates continue to increase and energy prices don’t fall back.