Julian Knight: Stagflation is here, so how do you live with it?

Sign up to our free money newsletter for investment analysis and expert advice to help you build wealth Sign up to our free money email for help building your wealth Sign up to our free money email for help building your wealth SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Now the Government prefers the consumer price index which is more stable and doesn't include mortgage interest, but for much of the population, a measure that includes the cost of servicing mortgage debt makes RPI much more relevant. This time around, policymakers know that the public finances can't cope with the necessary dampening of domestic demand which is needed to curb inflation properly; as a result they seem to be hoping that a workforce scared by redundancy will allow their wages to slip behind inflation, in effect sheltering business bottom line from rising prices. If this could be seen as malfeasance perhaps a judicial enquiry into the actions of Labour ministers is in order so that the next lot doesn't think it's right to play games with our money. Last week, for instance, on getting hold of a list of 35,000 potential targets for boiler room scammers, Jonathan Phelan of the FSA told people to ignore an approach made to them from cold callers.