"Core" inflation. You read that and you'd say it was the essence, the raw reality. They tinker with CPI instead of RPI to project an apparently rosier view of what our money buys, or more pertinently the switch to CPI made pensions and other State funded payouts increase at a lower rate.
What hacks me off about "core inflation" being trotted out so often is the brackets which always follow it.
In those brackets are the words "excluding food, tobacco, alcohol and energy". Well excuse me, but even if I don't smoke I'd say that all of those categories are pretty "core" to most people's outgoings! Food and energy prices have been rising at quite ridiculous levels but government and companies hide behind spurious official figures when it suits.
Bugs the hell out of me.
