In 1966 a stamp cost 4d or in decimal currency 1p. Today it costs 85p for a First Class stamp.
A price increase of 4,500%. This is not a true measure of inflation in the UK over the last fifty-five years. The Bank of England reckons that you need £19.05 to buy what £1 bought in 1966. Imagine a saver distrustful of investing who hoarded cash in 1966. Perhaps stamps are a good investment? I kept another 4d stamp: my grandfather’s Cape of Good Hope, triangular, dark blue. Unfortunately it has been clipped too close and far from being a valuable rarity I could buy it a companion for about £50.
“Stamps were first issued by the colony on 1 September 1853. The two stamps issued were a one penny in brick-red and a four pence in blue. The unusual shape of the stamps was probably inspired by the large triangular obliterator used by the Cape Revenue Department from 1839.” (Wikipedia)
Inflation is creeping back in reality and even more persistently in the columns of financial journalists. It’s a distraction unless it drives interest rates up. The real story for now is about extraction – how to extract more money from tax payers to pay back government borrowing.
At the same time the government aspires to raise money to pay for social care and are under pressure to maintain overseas aid at 0.7% of GDP. Then there is the unfunded commitment to pay final salary pensions to public sector workers. Most employers in the private sector defused this time bomb years ago. There have been plenty of storms in the natural world recently, probably related to climate change but let’s hope the UK is not sailing into an economic perfect storm.