A taste of our own medicine: Could inflation actually be just what the doctor ordered?

Borrowing your way out recession

"Will we have inflation?" is no longer a relevant question. Inflation is here, from the 50p extra on your supermarket meal deal, to the joiner who has to charge you more for timber (if he can source it), to April's 13.6% leap in the cost of fuel.

The questions now are: how high will inflation rise? And how long will it last? The UK's official figures for April showed a 1.5% rise. The sobering thought is that had taxes been at 'normal' levels - VAT is currently 5% on hospitality, remember - the rise would have been 3.25, the highest jump for nine years.  On the other side of the Atlantic, consumer inflation rose by 4.2% in April with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting 8%-11% hikes in basic foodstuffs, year on year. US inflation reaches 13-year high of 2.6% Warren Buffett, America's voice of stockmarket reason and op...