Gerald, interested parties, first and worst the Government, bombard you with optimistic views; only when the chickens come home to roost are the warnings of doom-and-gloom merchants like myself heard.

We're deep in the mire; we have to admit it and focus, hard, on extricating ourselves.

Noel Falconer MEcon, COUIZA, France

Are economists really that stupid that they don't differentiate between spendthrift inflation and forced inflation? They seem to believe we pay more for fuel because we are wastrels. Or that inflationary pressures are up because we are loading up on the champagne. Response: rate rises. Misery. Bah.

Paul Francis, Brisbane, Australia

Mr King may be trying the old Ken Clarke and Eddie George technique of the 90s and talking about rate rises to reduce the need for real ones

A light hand after the years of Brown's clunking fist - with its fingers and no thumbs may be the steadiest on the tiller in these turbulent waters

edward green, upminster,

To Andrew of Cambridge: Sorry, it's you.

Higher UK rates will tend to increase the value of sterling and this will reduce the impact of rising world commodity prices.

I think we can assume Mervyn King has worked this out.,

John Bryant, London, UK

Laying the blame at the feet of government is comforting but misleading. What of the consumers who have bought everything from houses to bath towels on credit. They thought the world was their oyster. Now, perhaps, they'll realize that earning and spending are linked.

Jim Walton, Washington DC,

It would be nice if those were the choices- Recession or Inflation. The reason the US Fed has so desperately tried to prevent a recession, which is just a normal part of a normal business cycle, is that they know that what the collapse of the greatest credit bubble ever really portends is Depression

Lee Stockhamer, New York, USA

I came to the UK in 1986 to go to University and I can still remember some things; cost of beer, median wage, and median house price. All of these have gone up by 4 to 5 times since then, but the RPI has only gone up 1.7 times. I dont need to dive into the details of CPI/RPI to realise it is wrong

Harvey, London, UK

Your argument is discreditted by the simple fact we did not have CPI (that massaged statistic of economic lie for the benefit or political and economic control of the masses) back in the 70's.
Try assuming STAGFLATION with the same fomulae used to caculate inflation back then and now !

Joe, Geelong, VIC Australia

so Iran has the right to bombard the US, since various regimes have threatened to "bomb Iran back to the stone age"

T.Andre, London,

Is inflation good or bad? Well, are you lending or borrowing? Are you paying back good money you borrowed , with bad stuff through the years? And what did you spend the borrowed money on. 40 years ago you could buy a kruggerand for £50!

DAVID VINTER, Louth, Lincs,, UK.

Brilliant article which says it all. Might I add that was it not Harold Wilson in the 70's who said something like "one man's wage rise was another's job loss"....?.

william grierson, Kimpton, UK

My usual weekly food bill has gone from £50 to £62 = 24% rise. Petrol?
For 35 years I have worked out a years household bills, car tax, repairs etc in order to budget properly. Every year I have added 10% and every year it has been swallowed up.
This year will be a lot worse.
Gov't figures pah!

Jo, Devon, England

If the government wasn't around to take their hits for them- who would greedy and incompetent businessmen blame for their mistakes?

Miss Dee, tayside, UK

We have already had inflation at crazy levels - its just been in asset prices, e.g. housing. Wages have to ctach up with house prices or house prices have to fall. Which do you prefer?

Tim, London,

Are you saying inflation now is only 3 - 4%???

Don't make me laugh.

TrevorH, OXON, UK

Do we really think inflation is at 3-4%..? It's a measure that gets adjusted to suit the government- have you checked what you pay for things these days? Council tax, local parking, trains, petrol... many or the things that are going through the roof funnily enough are charges made by government..

phil, Headley, uk

If any business was run in the way the UK PLC is run, they would be under investigation for fraud, but i suppose when you make the rules its easy to do exactly as you please.....no one would be complaining if everyone was to benefit but now its starting to go wrong!!!"creative accounting"

C Kroustis, London,

If inflation is way above wage increases, people on average wages experience a real reduction in standard of living. This loss is likely to take years to recover. That is a large part of the reason for Brown's future demise.

KW, Bognor Regis, England

Is this piece entirely govermner propaganda?

The problems lie at the door of the goverment, despite their claims its everyones elses fault.

Paul, Andover,

Even with the (unrealistic) CPI at a 16-year high, the interest rate back in June 1992 was 9.8750% and was in double digits in the stagflated 1970s - there was even a 200 points increase at one stage. Am predicting history is going to repeat itself largely due to the failure to learn from history.

cww, Ipswich,

Andrew, it's you. Interest rates up means less money in the consumers' pockets which reduces demand which discourages prices rises.

Kevin, Tewkesbury, Glos

The Real pain i.e. inflation / wages as a % appears greater than the 70s. The statistics seemed more realistic as well.

R James, Redland, UK

I find it quite amazing that King suggests that rates may have to go up to curb inflation. Just how is that going to stop global oil and food price rises... it is not excess spending that is causing inflation (which is why rates are put up to reduce it)

Either me or Mr King is pretty dumb..

Andrew, Cambridge,

If you use 1970s metrics to calculate inflation, it is running at close to 10 percent. But expecting establishment boosters like Baker to point this out is rather optimistic.

Adam, London,

In the 1970s government inflation figures - like those on crime, education, and other subjects - were credible. Today they are systematically manipulated. No one believes inflation is 3%. Many luxuries are imported, hence cheap; while necessities like food, heating, transport and housing are dear.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

scuse my ignorance, but how is infaltion calculated? I would have thought the 3 most important commodities would set the rate, as in fuel, food and energy prices? all of which in my eyes have risen slightly more than 3%. anyone?

samarius, Leeds,

Do not believe the official figures on inflation. They are massaged hopelessly. Objectively, the US inflation rate is 8+ percent used on the methodogy used elsewhere in the world. The official figures understate inflation and overstate growth since hat suits the Administration and Wall Street.

William Thomson, Koror, Palau

It seems to me that the only people who believe tthat 3%-4% represents the true inflation rate are the government (useful for setting public sector wage rises) and Times journalists - do they eat DVD players and run their cars on liquified cheap clothes from Primark by any chance

rick, sydney,

Gerald, you should at least have made the effort to look at changes in how inflation is calculated. If you strip out the methodological changes introduced to US CPI since the 1970s you'll find it is running MUCH higher than 4%!! Compare apples with apples!!!

Mike, BKK,

You forgot to add that it ought not to rain when we're on a picnic.

All this talk about what we ought to welcome is piffle. Stagflation is what's on the menu.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA